Who gave them all the get out jail free cards?
“Outcry at N Korea ‘nuclear test’” (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6033457.stm)
Our President is working to confirm North Korea’s first nuclear detonation, an event, which if true, he will declare “provocative.” The Russians and Japanese, however, have already offered such confirmation; Russian officials, for instance, are “100% positive.” I hope Bush had his copy of My Pet Goat to keep him busy while other countries did our business for us.
From financing revolutions and coups to “extraordinary rendition,” that wonderful euphemism for outsourcing torture to less scrupulous countries, the truth is that the administration’s “aggressive” posture is in fact a cowardly, half-assed attempt to remake the world in its own image. If Bush were actually a cowboy, he would be in Pyongyang already, having said to hell with Saddam, let’s go after somebody who could actually hurt us.
But no – we’re in Baghdad, surrounded not by barrels of anthrax but by the barrels of hundreds of AK-47’s, the smoky tracer trails of thousands of RPG’s, and the shrapnel from a million IED’s. And still, no WMD’s. Only acronyms, endless acronyms.
This cloud of abbreviations, however, has a silver lining. Had we attacked North Korea instead, we would likely have a fiasco very similar to Iraq – not enough troops, not enough security. And North Korea would certainly have put up more resistance, especially in the first phases of the war, before the aircraft carrier landing and the “Mission Accomplished” banner.
So let’s be honest about this administration’s image, about how it will be remembered. What history will say, as Bush likes to ponder. They are certainly a war-making bunch, Titans of the Military-Industrial Complex, but they are more Kennebunkport than cowboy. They are martini-sipping, monocle-wearing monopoly men. North Korea and (let’s face it) China are their Broadway and Park Place. Best to start small, they think, best to not be brave. Don’t want to end up in the poorhouse. They’ve already got the railroads, so they start to gobble up the purples, the blues, the light oranges…
The Community Chest is cut open for a triple bypass. And we all know how Chance is.
Our President is working to confirm North Korea’s first nuclear detonation, an event, which if true, he will declare “provocative.” The Russians and Japanese, however, have already offered such confirmation; Russian officials, for instance, are “100% positive.” I hope Bush had his copy of My Pet Goat to keep him busy while other countries did our business for us.
From financing revolutions and coups to “extraordinary rendition,” that wonderful euphemism for outsourcing torture to less scrupulous countries, the truth is that the administration’s “aggressive” posture is in fact a cowardly, half-assed attempt to remake the world in its own image. If Bush were actually a cowboy, he would be in Pyongyang already, having said to hell with Saddam, let’s go after somebody who could actually hurt us.
But no – we’re in Baghdad, surrounded not by barrels of anthrax but by the barrels of hundreds of AK-47’s, the smoky tracer trails of thousands of RPG’s, and the shrapnel from a million IED’s. And still, no WMD’s. Only acronyms, endless acronyms.
This cloud of abbreviations, however, has a silver lining. Had we attacked North Korea instead, we would likely have a fiasco very similar to Iraq – not enough troops, not enough security. And North Korea would certainly have put up more resistance, especially in the first phases of the war, before the aircraft carrier landing and the “Mission Accomplished” banner.
So let’s be honest about this administration’s image, about how it will be remembered. What history will say, as Bush likes to ponder. They are certainly a war-making bunch, Titans of the Military-Industrial Complex, but they are more Kennebunkport than cowboy. They are martini-sipping, monocle-wearing monopoly men. North Korea and (let’s face it) China are their Broadway and Park Place. Best to start small, they think, best to not be brave. Don’t want to end up in the poorhouse. They’ve already got the railroads, so they start to gobble up the purples, the blues, the light oranges…
The Community Chest is cut open for a triple bypass. And we all know how Chance is.
posted by base at 9:57 AM
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