Greenwald: Michael Gerson and the Bush administration's "noble story"

Anyone interested in the fascist nature of Bushism and what it's up to in the world should read this chilling analysis of former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson's essay about Bush and 9/11, mainly for what Greenwald says is its hints of what the Bushists are thinking about Iran (be sure to read the whole think at the link below): :scared:

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/08/michael-gerson-and-bush.html

The most under-appreciated influence on the Bush presidency is almost certainly Michael Gerson, the evangelical Christian who served as Bush's chief speechwriter from the beginning of Bush's presidency until recently, when he resigned. Gerson is a superb speechwriter -- measured by the ability to construct a persuasive and sometimes inspiring case for any given policy, regardless of the policy's merits -- and he is a close confidant of the President.

He has a new essay in Newsweek purporting to describe how the 9/11 attacks "changed George W. Bush." Most of it is nothing more than the now-cliched neoconservative claptrap about how the lesson the President drew from 9/11 is that "as long as the Middle East remains a bitter and backward mess, America will not be secure," and that consequently, the President is driven by "a vision: a reformed Middle East that joins the world instead of resenting and assaulting it." Gerson also tries to rejuvenate some of his old 9/11 rhetorical glory by lengthily describing his personal recollections of that day to justify the President's actions -- because, of course, only Bush supporters, not Bush critics, were moved by those events.

Initially, just as an aside, it is somewhat baffling that those who seek to defend the President do so by claiming that battling terrorism is dependent upon reducing the level of chaos and hatred in the Middle East -- even though the region has more chaos, violence, and anti-American resentment than at any time in recent history. To justify these disasters, Gerson elaborates on the administration's condescending and even creepy maternity metaphor: "Condoleezza Rice calls this the 'birth pangs' of a new Middle East, and it is a complicated birth." We achieve Middle East peace with war, stability with chaos, pro-American alliances with elections of intensely anti-U.S. regimes. And, like God himself did, we re-make their world in our own Good image -- through air attacks, proxy wars, and ground invasions. But all of that is just standard neoconservative incoherence that has been noted many times before.

What is most notable about Gerson's essay is that it certainly seems as though he believes a military confrontation with Iran is both necessary and imminent, and devotes the bulk of his essay to making the case:



First, the nation may be tired, but history doesn't care. It is not fair that the challenge of Iran is rising with Iraq, bloody and unresolved. But, as President Kennedy used to say, "Life is not fair."

Behind all the chaos and death in Lebanon and northern Israel, Iran is the main cause of worry in the West Wing—the crisis with the highest stakes. Its government shows every sign of grand regional ambitions, pulling together an anti-American alliance composed of Syria, terrorist groups like Hizbullah and Hamas, and proxies in Iraq and Afghanistan. And despite other disagreements, all the factions in Iran—conservative, ultraconservative and "let's usher in the apocalypse" fanatics—seem united in a nuclear nationalism.

Some commentators say that America is too exhausted to confront this threat. But presidential decisions on national security are not primarily made by the divination of public sentiments; they are made by the determination of national interests. And the low blood-sugar level of pundits counts not at all. Here the choice is not easy, but it is simple: can America (and other nations) accept a nuclear Iran? . . . .

There are still many steps of diplomacy, engagement and sanctions between today and a decision about military conflict with Iran—and there may yet be a peaceful solution. But in this diplomatic dance, America should not mirror the infinite patience of Europe. There must be someone in the world capable of drawing a line—someone who says, "This much and no further." At some point, those who decide on aggression must pay a price, or aggression will be universal. If American "cowboy diplomacy" did not exist, it would be necessary to invent it.

actively worked against it while PROTECTING The terrorists and their financiers.