Bush's new speechwriter, and a question
'God is good. God is great. God is good. My God is good. Bin Laden's God is bad. His is a bad God. Saddam's God was bad, except he didn't have one. He was a barbarian. We are not barbarians. We don't chop people's heads off. We believe in freedom. So does God. I am not a barbarian. I am the democratically elected leader of a freedom-loving democracy. We are a compassionate society. We give compassionate electrocution and compassionate lethal injection. We are a great nation. I am not a dictator. He is. I am not a barbarian. He is. And he is. They all are. I possess moral authority. You see this fist? This is my moral authority. And don't you forget it.'
This is the speech that playwright Harold Pinter says he'd like to write for George W. Bush. It's from the video speech he presented yesterday at the Swedish Academy when he accepted the Nobel Prize for literature. Check it out at the above link: it's a striking indictment of US foreign policy, and it deserves to be read, or heard, in full.
Which brings me to something I've been thinking about for a while: it's rather easy to point out the flaws, contradictions, hypocrisies, lies, and sometimes atrocities in the US's actions (although few people rise to the eloquence of Pinter). Let me propose something a little different: imagine that by some miracle you are suddenly the President of the United States, the most powerful man on earth, blah blah blah.
What would you do about Iraq?
posted by Anonymous at
9:00 AM
2 Comments:
What would I do? I'd put John Kerry in a special advisor on Iraq and let him guide the pull out. He had an editorial on NPR the other day that tied the pace of withdrawal to specific events that are sure to happen in Iraq. Vote on new President, new legislative body, etc. A certain level of forcing the issue: putting the Iraqi soldiers on the front lines and progressively make their role more important. Kerry suggested that the time line not specify dates, but by specifying milestones, some dates are explicit while others are implicit.
Of course, that is cutting and running like a coward, from what I hear.
7:30 AM
Putting anyone from our government in charge of anything would be a huge mistake. They are the ones causing the problems. It is their policies that have created my of the problems we are now experiencing.
The very first thing that must occur to address Iraq would be to reform our own government.
First, it would be necessary to release the strangle hold the two major political paries have in this country. Open and fair election policies would have to be created at a national level. States would no longer be able to exclude candidates through the various methods that are currently used.
Second, all corporate and special interest money would be eliminated from the political system. A $20 maximum personal campaign contribution would be put in place, making everyone's freedom of speech equal.
Finally, fair, open, non scripted public funded debates would be held for all elections (air time donated by the major networks and cable stations - they use public airwaves) and would be held on a regular basis to discuss issues that affect all Americans.
This is what I would do. It would be a start, but I hardly see how we can expect to establish a democracy in Iraq when our own democracy is so corrupt.
11:16 AM
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