Bush: Bold, Visionary, and Out of Touch With Reality

From the San Diego Union-Tribune/Copley News Service

WASHINGTON – In setting out a bold vision of a democratic Middle East, President Bush has once again demonstrated two trademarks of his presidency: a view of his job as a place to do grand things and a willingness to brush aside realities that might not fit into the bigger ideological picture. ...

Lest there be any doubt of its significance, Bush linked it to three of the most historic foreign policy addresses of the past 100 years. He specifically mentioned Woodrow Wilson's "Fourteen Points" speech in 1918, Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms" in 1941 and Ronald Reagan's 1982 Westminster address. ...

In keeping with Pletka's prediction, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi condemned Bush's speech as an "obvious interference in Iran's internal affairs," the country's Islamic News Agency reported. And across the region, even those who welcomed the call for greater democracy were bitter that it came from a president who they say favors Israel.

Repeatedly, officials in the region said a key will be how well the White House follows through on Bush's rhetoric. It was a concern echoed by many analysts here who said implementation often has not matched Bush's oratory in the past.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20031108-9999_1n8assess.html

when WMD didn't pan out. An arrogant dimwit who thinks his life would be easier if he were a dictator certainly has no compelling interest in seeing democracy take root in the ME. In fact, that'd be a real problem for getting oil deals and war profiteering contracts done.

I think this talk about democracy is just more Bush fantasy for the messianic rightwing consumatrons. Anyone paying attention to reality knows that with the Admin's current policies, we can't (won't) get there from here anyway.

I say we can kiss our $87b goodbye since there are no assurances of accountability in spending it. I predict continued escalating violence, and a reappropriation of large portions of the spending bill outside the purview of the American public/congress.

The Bush policies are pathological. I can't really fathom any of this!

Just buy Halliburton stock and ride the war bull with Crashcart Cheney.

anyone want to go pull up the chart?

And by "the plan," the one I'm talking about is the one PNACers and Israel have been promoting for sometime: change the face of the Middle East (by force!!!) and turn all these nations into democracies (never mind it can't be done in some of those countries, or not without replacing most of the population -- aka: genocide).

It just wasn't the reason promoted for the war to Americans.

Eloriel

here it is:

President Bush told us that Iraq possessed huge stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, was reconstituting its nuclear weapons program, and had ties with the al Qaeda terrorists who attacked us on 9-11. None of it was true. The fundamental principle of our democracy – informed consent of the governed – was subverted by a president who misinformed us in matters of war. Now he tells us our mission in Iraq is to spread democracy in the Middle East, a region in which we have a long history of supporting repressive regimes and which believes we invaded Iraq for oil and for Israel. The president’s speech about democracy appeals to Americans who want to believe, but has no credibility in the countries he seeks to change.

How does the Bush administration expect to transform the entire Middle East when its plans for transforming Iraq have proven to be based mostly on wishful thinking? Experts warned of the problems that have exploded in Iraq, but anyone who told this administration what it didn’t want to hear was ignored. Does Bush really believe he can create a lasting democracy in a country that has never known it, among factions that are hostile to each other, and under conditions in which those who collaborate with us are targeted for assassination?

Staying the course in Iraq would require the continuing sacrifice of our troops and the expenditure of hundreds of billions of dollars, with no guarantee that any government we install won’t collapse after we leave. Our country needs to change course, and we should begin by rejecting the misguided policies that have turned much of the world against us. In order to restore our credibility and to give the emergent government in Iraq any hope for legitimacy, we need to relinquish control to the UN and withdraw our troops soon as possible. And let’s practice democracy at home by getting rid of the president who lied us into this costly unnecessary war.