Middle East Propaganda, American Style

I recently received a slide-show attachment in an e-mail that was supposed to be an affirmation of support for the American troops in Iraq ...

It was entitled, 'Gladiator, American Style' and was quite well done, with soldiers holding Iraqi babies, talking pleasantly with Iraqi children, improvising golf games, smiling and doing all the happy things soldiers do when they're not risking sudden death.

I'm sure it was well-intentioned, but the ironic impression it made on me was that Joseph Goebbels would surely have approved.

My support and sympathies are extended to all the troops serving in the Middle East, but I do not support the invasion in any way, shape or form. Their futures are being mortgaged badly enough with this current series of American follies for them to possibly be exposed to going there.

Such criticism isn't coming just from the left and the moderates. Staunch conservatives from George Will and William Buckley to Pat Buchanan believe the Bush Administration's Middle East policies are egregious and unjustified mistakes.

I've offered a link to it before, but let me do so again: Here's a speech given in the House of Representatives by the Hon Ron Paul, an oil-state Republican, elaborating on the damage being done to the USA economy, both financially and politically.

And note in this commentary from Pulitzer-prize winner Carl Bernstein (of Watergate fame) that Republican leaders are quoted as much as Democrats.

History has justified their reasoning --- for example, check the brilliant documentary, Fog of War, from the fake Gulf of Tonkin report to the poor homework behind the Domino Theory that even North Vietnam later debunked --- and one would have hoped our leaders from that point onward would have learned from the experience, the cost and the unnecessary deaths and maimings.

And yet, here we are, watching another round of tributes to troops which are supposed to make us feel good, but knowing that the next moment could see any one of them blown away, lost to their families and loved ones forever. And for what?

I am simply aghast that the President thinks so little of their lives that he did not better define their mission.

His administration's policies are not curbing terrorism. They're creating more terrorists who are uniting against us. For example, consider these undisputed facts:

- Al-Qaida had no support in Iraq until the 'Allies' invaded. Al-Qaida is predominantly Sunni; the Iraqi insurgency is predominantly Shi'ite. They had no use for each other until we became the common enemy.

- Hezbollah (Shi'ite) and Hamas (Sunni) were just as diametrically opposed to each other. Not now. American policies have, in effect, created a crescent of more radical terrorism across the Middle East involving groups who had nothing to do with the Al-Qaida attack on the USA.

- Instead of being a local pariah that had been reasonably contained, Iran (Shi'ite) --- with its ample resources --- has now become a major, destabilizing influence throughout the entire Middle East.

As a direct result of the Bush Administration's policies, these developments have put more American troops and citizens even more at risk. This is more than ironic; it's unconscionable.

I believe in America. I just believe that its leaders have a responsibility to uphold the ideals upon which the country was founded and for which many of its troops have given their lives over the past two centuries. I believe the facts in the USA's present situation find its leadership falling woefully short, to the detriment of its troops and civilians alike.

There are better and more efficient ways to focus on America's enemies without deploying costly, short-sighted policies that only create more of them. The USA needs smarter leaders --- from any party, preferably from the ranks of those who have served in the military --- to determine wiser plans and implement them.

Hopefully, Americans will start to find them during this autumn's elections.