ONE OF MY favourite cinematic moments is the scene in Monty Python's Life of Brian when Reg, aka John Cleese, the leader of the People's Front of Judea, is trying to whip up anti-Roman sentiment among his team of slightly hesitant commandos.
"What have the Romans ever done for us?" he asks...By the time they're finished they're not so sure about the whole insurgency idea after all and an exasperated Reg tries to rally them: "All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?"
I can't help but think of that scene as I watch the contortions of the anti-American hordes in Britain, Europe and even in the US itself in response to the remarkable events that are unfolding in the real Middle East today. Confronted with this awkward turn of events, Reg's angry successors are asking their cohorts:..."All right, all right. But apart from liberating 50 million people in Iraq and Afghanistan, undermining dictatorships throughout the Arab world, spreading freedom and self-determination in the broader Middle East and moving the Palestinians and the Israelis towards a real chance of ending their centuries-long war, what have the Americans ever done for us?"
It's too early, in fairness, to claim complete victory in the American-led struggle to bring peace through democratic transformation of the region. Despite the temptation to crow, we must remember that this is not Berlin 1989. There will surely be challenging times ahead in Iraq, Iran, in the West Bank and elsewhere. The enemies of democratic revolution — all the terrorists and Baathists, the sheikhs, the mullahs and the monarchs — are not going to give up without a fight.
But something very important is happening now, something that will be very hard to stop. And, although not all of it can be directly attributed to the US strategy in the region, can anyone seriously argue that it would have happened without it? Neither is it true, as some have tried to argue, that all of this is merely some unintended consequence of an immoral and misconceived war in Iraq... I doubt that anybody, even the most prescient in the Bush Administration or at 10 Downing Street, thought the progress we are now seeing would come as quickly as it has.
As a foreign policy thinker close to the Administration put it to me, in the weeks before the Iraq war two years ago: "Shake it and see. That's what we are going to do." The US couldn't be certain of the outcome, but it could be sure that whatever happened would be better than the status quo.
Posted by: Pappy ||
03/04/2005 1:03:07 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
âShake it and see. Thatâs what we are going to do.â
#2
THAT is the "cowboy" attitude that scares the crap out of the left.
Because, in an odd flip-flop of roles, the Republicans have become the ones saying "Why Not?" and changing things to better enable individual freedom, and the Democrats are digging in screaming "why" - to preseve the power they have and fight any sort of change counter to their collectivist tradition.
If anything, the Conservatives are being seen for acting on their principles of free market capitalism and the free individualsm it requires, whereas the liberals are seen as dragging their heels trying to maintain the status quo and state influence and control - theirs is the status quo circa 1976, with the US in retreat from SE Asia, the military despised and shrinking, the Soviet Union and its client states on a roll, and Democrats in charage of everything.
Compare/Contrast to Reagan or W in terms of "shaking things up".
#3
THAT is the "cowboy" attitude that scares the crap out of the left.
Because, in an odd flip-flop of roles, the Republicans have become the ones saying "Why Not?" and changing things to better enable individual freedom, and the Democrats are digging in screaming "why" - to preseve the power they have and fight any sort of change counter to their collectivist tradition.
If anything, the Conservatives are being seen for acting on their principles of free market capitalism and the free individualsm it requires, whereas the liberals are seen as dragging their heels trying to maintain the status quo and state influence and control - theirs is the status quo circa 1976, with the US in retreat from SE Asia, the military despised and shrinking, the Soviet Union and its client states on a roll, and Democrats in charage of everything.
Compare/Contrast to Reagan or W in terms of "shaking things up".
#4
THAT is the "cowboy" attitude that scares the crap out of the left.
Because, in an odd flip-flop of roles, the Republicans have become the ones saying "Why Not?" and changing things to better enable individual freedom, and the Democrats are digging in screaming "why" - to preseve the power they have and fight any sort of change counter to their collectivist tradition.
If anything, the Conservatives are being seen for acting on their principles of free market capitalism and the free individualsm it requires, whereas the liberals are seen as dragging their heels trying to maintain the status quo and state influence and control - theirs is the status quo circa 1976, with the US in retreat from SE Asia, the military despised and shrinking, the Soviet Union and its client states on a roll, and Democrats in charage of everything.
Compare/Contrast to Reagan or W in terms of "shaking things up".
Ward Churchill to Seek Byrd's Senate Seat in 2006
by Scott Ott
(2005-03-04) -- With uncertain career prospects at the University of Colorado, virtual Native American professor Ward Churchill today announced he would move to West Virginia to seek the seat currently held by 47-year Senate veteran Robert Byrd.
Mr. Byrd this week again demonstrated the political skill and statesmanship that helped him carry every county in West Virginia in 2000 as he compared Republican political tactics to those of the most famous German who ever lived.
Mr. Churchill, now on a lucrative speaking tour to explain the similarities between 9/11 victims and another well-known German leader, said he would be the ideal replacement for Mr. Byrd in a state "where a man can speak his mind without regard for consequences...or for that matter, without consequences at all."
"Sen. Byrd must have some virtual Indian blood in him too," said Mr. Churchill. "As he closes out his distinguished Senate career in 2006, West Virginians will search for man to step into his moccasins. I have already walked a mile in those moccasins. I stand ready to serve."
FOR three years, this column has shot down the pessimists who warned we were bound to fail in the Middle East. Now those of us who see our confidence vindicated must beware a premature euphoria.
There's plenty of work ahead.
Our successes have been remarkable. In the past six weeks, we've seen more positive movement in the region than we saw in the preceding six decades. The political landscape of the old Islamic heartlands has changed breathtakingly since our first special-operations team went to work in the wake of 9/11.
Afghanistan's finding its footing as a democracy. Iraq welcomed its first free elections with an enthusiasm and valor that should shame apathetic Western voters. Inspired, the people of Lebanon took to the streets to demand freedom from Syrian occupation. Palestinians voted, too — and their new government is resisting the terrorists who want to frustrate peace efforts.
From Iran through Saudi Arabia to Egypt, the first breezes of change are beginning to blow.
But they're not gale-force winds just yet. We would be almost as foolish as the eternal naysayers were we to imagine that our mission is nearing completion.
Excessive euphoria would only play into the hands of those who wanted freedom's campaign to fail all along. If our rhetoric becomes too exuberant, even positive events on the ground could be dismissed as falling short of our promises..
This isn't a time to gloat. Instead, we need to work harder than ever, to keep pushing, to exploit the current momentum.
We should be encouraged our enemies are certainly discouraged but more American soldiers and civilians are going to be killed in the days ahead. The Middle East's degenerate regimes will not all go down without a fight. Nor will the many terrorists they spawned.
Army planning offices used to have a saying tacked to the wall: "The difficult we do immediately; the impossible takes slightly longer." In the greater Middle East, we've accomplished much that our critics warned was impossible. Without slighting those achievements in the least, let's consider just a few of the challenges ahead:
Iran: We're in a race against time with Tehran. Will the Iranian people rid themselves of their oppressors before the ruling mullahs gain nuclear weapons? Would those "men of God" use nukes against Israel as their regime crumbled?
Iraq: Every current indicator is positive. But a unified, democratic Iraq isn't yet a reality. Old rivalries and the cancer of corruption could still undo much of what's been achieved. If the Kurds are cheated, the country will disintegrate.
Syria: The clumsy Baathist regime could topple with surprising swiftness or it could turn even more oppressive and provide even greater support to the terrorists it harbors. Cornered by history, Syria's rulers could lash out or divide against themselves in civil strife. We still may need to conduct military operations against yesterday's men in Damascus.
Saudi Arabia: Our continued indulgence of the "royal" mafia that runs this country is an ugly blot on America's refurbished record of fighting for freedom, human rights and democracy. We can't change everything at once, but our pressure on the Saudis to reform should be relentless even if we don't like all the choices the population makes in future elections. This perverted state could implode if it clings to the past and yes, the oil matters. We may need to intervene to keep it flowing.
Egypt: President Hosni Mubarak is trying to stave off serious change with a promise of "free" elections his government intends to manipulate. We need to cut off the annual billions in aid we send to Egypt until the regime frees legitimate dissidents from its jails and allows truly free, multi-party elections. Half-measures play into the hands of Islamic extremists.
Terror: Al Qaeda and its affiliates have suffered one catastrophic defeat after another since 9/11. Our efforts have cut deep into their base and reduced their freedom of action. But the hard-core terrorists will continue to use slaughter as a tool to advance their agenda until the last man among them is killed or captured. Progress in the Middle East will cut the ranks of future terrorists, but for now we must fight those already converted to fanaticism. This war is far from over.
What our government and, especially, our men and women in uniform have achieved is worthy of our highest praise and gratitude. Even I didn't believe that we could come so far so fast. But we need to remain sober, to keep our eyes on the long game and to keep up our guard for the challenges still to come.
So go ahead: Crack open one bottle of bubbly (I recommend Dr. Konstantin Frank's elixir from New York's Finger Lakes). But save the rest of the case for the triumphs ahead.
Posted by: tipper ||
03/04/2005 9:54:28 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
