the rix mix

Yes, we do have a foreign policv, so let Duh Prez sum it up in his own words.

"It’s an interesting period because, instead of having foreign policies based upon trying to create a sense of stability, we have a foreign policy that addresses the root causes of violence and instability.

"For a while, American foreign policy was just, Let’s hope everything is calm — manage calm. But beneath the surface brewed a lot of resentment and anger that was manifested on September the 11th.

"And so we’ve taken a foreign policy that says: On the one hand, we will protect ourselves from further attack in the short run by being aggressive in chasing down the killers and bringing them to justice.

"And make no mistake: They’re still out there, and they would like to harm our respective peoples because of what we stand for. In the long term, to defeat this ideology — and they’re bound by an ideology — you defeat it with a more hopeful ideology called freedom."

He never does say what's in the other hand. Wouldn't help to point out that "freedom" isn't an ideology. The stupid argument is always "We're fighting [insert enemy] there so we don't have to fight them here." Always implicit in Bush's rhetoric, often explicit from his supporters, most recently Sen. Elizabeth Dole, a mentally-challenged politician who's lost at least 75 IQ points since she quit working for the Red Cross. Rather, it's been instructive watching the weather disasters & power failures that have afflicted us over the past year: it took a week for Con Ed to restore power to a section of Queens, & then much of that through temporary generators. New Orleans remains a ruined city. I don't know why we haven't had terrorist attacks after 9/11, but I'm not going to credit the Iraq War as a magnet for lunatics who would otherwise be blowing up power transmission towers in California, subway trains in New York, or the Old McDonald Petting Zoo in Alabama. Clearly, we're still sitting ducks.

Labels: George W. Bush, Iraq