Just in case
Anyone was feeling all “Attaboy George” currently:
| By Robert Kuttner | March 9, 2005 |
FREEDOM IS breaking out all over, so it seems. To hear supporters of George W. Bush, it’s all due to the president’s courageous decision to risk his presidency on the Iraq War.
Here’s the storyline: Just as Bush’s neoconservative advisers planned, ousting Saddam transformed not just Iraq but the balance of power in the Middle East. It gave ordinary Arabs and Muslims a sense of democratic possibility. Once Saddam went down, the other dominoes started falling.
Just read the headlines: Syria, respecting America’s new muscle, is thrown off balance. Lebanon, long Syria’s puppet, is demanding liberty. Egypt’s despotic president (and US client) Hosni Mubarak is suddenly promising fair elections. Saudi Arabia’s local elections are more authentic than usual. On the Palestine-Israel front, there’s suddenly progress. Iran is negotiating about shutting down its nukes. And in Iraq itself, the process may be a mess but something real is happening.
Wow! If this picture is true, let’s nominate George W. Bush for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The only trouble is, the picture isn’t true.</i>
