Cruel Intentions

Being surrounded by six students who'd rather admit they were communists than denounce their precious democratic party, one might assume a mode of panic and promptly shut their mouth when the discussion turned to GWB's "fuck-ups" in Iraq and across the world. Not I. I see this only as an opportunity to turn onto them the same questions they hurl at the current administration.

I ask them how things would have been different if Mr. Kerry had been elected. I ask them if the Middle East would return to the picturesque paradise it was meant to be, before America (and the West in general) exploited and manipulated. I ask them how Iraq should have been handled. I ask them if they believe that rulers who commit genocide and promote oppression should be kept in power. I ask them if they and the rest of the USA would have turned a blind eye to Saddam, like they did to Hitler, to Pol Pot, to the Hutu's and the Tutsi, if he decided that he would go ahead and cleanse Iraq of those people they didn't really need and never really wanted.

They answer with sweeping generalizations that all come down to, it's America's fault. They are quick to say that Republicans are too meddlesome when it comes to foreign policy. I would rather say America is more meddlesome, no matter what only slightly different side of the spectrum owns the balance of power. Foreign policy mistakes can be attributed to every modern day president I can think of, though I believe our Middle East policy began its disintegration in 1953 when we decided it would be a brilliant idea to remove Prime Minister Mossadegh through a messy coup. From there on out, we again and again lost the confidence of nations of people in the Middle East.

I have a professor who says time and again that our priorities in the Middle East have always been the same and they always will be. The priority of the goals might change, but the true challenge will be balancing them all at once. The goals are to minimize violent threat to the the US, support Israel, and access to oil. Every conflict we've ever instigated, participated in, what ever, has been a direct result of one of these goals or a combination of them. It's frightening to realize how handicapping such an agenda can be and that's why I find it hard to believe we'll even leave them alone.