Well, it’s been a good weekend. Yesterday was fairly productive and today we went out to the in-laws for a family reunion of sorts. Four hours in the car with three kids equals two crazed parents… what a day!
So, on to the topic of war. Israel really screwed the pooch… the bombing of Qana was a horrific mistake, and the last thing the Israelis need is footage of children and women in the rubble of a building that was mistakenly bombed. The Israeli response? Both smart and dumb. Smart in that they are putting a 48 hour hiatus on attacks but dumb in that they are blaming the residents for not fleeing the area. “We told them it is a war zone.” Yeah, I could see how that would not go over very well with the Lebanese.
They may deny it, but there are war criminals among the Israeli leaders, as well as among many of the Hezbollah who, despite their public statements do indeed have much American blood on their hands in addition to the Israeli blood they are spilling. I doubt that either side will ever see a day in court, not as long as we have a United Nations that is not allowed by the major powers to have any real teeth. Kofi Annan is outraged, and I can’t blame him. He also said that the U.N. peacekeepers killed last week were targeted by Israel, and I can’t say I disagree with him.
I watched a very interesting news special this weekend, and only now have come to the realization that the seeds for the current mess we are in were sown during the Reagan Administration. After the bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983, the Hezbollah responsible were located and plans were made for an attack that would have taken them all out and sent a very strong message about targeting Americans. Reagan gave the order to strike, and then Casper (Cap) Weinberger scrapped it at the last minute, saying he didn’t think it was the right thing to do, and that the U.S. would create more problems for itself in the Arab world than it would solve. Amazingly, Reagan forgave and forgot, as it was not his style to hold any of his inner circle accountable for their actions. Soon after this, we abandoned Lebanon.
Then, after “Black Hawk Down” in Somalia, Clinton ordered the troops out. Once again, the U.S. showed that if we got a bloody nose, then we had no stomach for a fight. According to statements made by Osama bin Laden, it was these types of American actions that led him to boldly attack Americans and ultimately to orchestrate 9/11. These things could have been prevented not just with better intelligence, but also by not making military decisions into political ones. Clinton made the right decisions in the former Yugoslavia, and I was proud of that stance. But his administration, as much as Reagan’s, bears responsibility for a great deal of the mess we are now in.
Where does that leave the Bushes? Ironically, King George I had it right. He led a truly collaborative effort and did what he was authorized to do in Iraq. The reason he didn’t get a second term was because he was clueless about the economy. King George II, however, does get the bulk of the responsibility laid at his feet. We still haven’t put down the Taliban completely in Afghanistan or captured bin Laden, we illegally invaded Iraq, and now we are standing fast behind Israel no matter what they do. Our military is being run ragged and has to sort through dumps to get protective armor. I can’t help but be worried that we are about to be on the receiving end of a major military catastrophe. As it is, the body count in Iraq grows daily, and it is clear (to me at least) that the situation is deteriorating into a chaotic civil war. And we started it.
The U.S., thanks to King George II and previous administrations, has little to no credibility in the Middle East and in many other parts of the world. We are quickly devolving into a “paper tiger” and that can only mean that more people will be emboldened to strike out. The Chinese must be licking their chops right now. Eventually they know they will be able to seize Taiwan without consequence. With their increasingly powerful economy and military, they are beginning to fill the void that we are creating. We may own the technology advantage for the moment, but we shouldn’t count on it lasting, and we shouldn’t count on it making the difference.
The last days of the last superpower from the Cold War are on the horizon, but we refuse to see it. We put our interests ahead of everyone else’s and prevent the United Nations from being a significant force in the world. This is going to come back to bite us in the ass.
