From a discussion at dotCommonweal:
The reason the Democrats have not shown any interest in exploring the reasons for the invasion is that they already know the reasons: oil, Israel, the desire to establish a U.S. strategic presence. The fact is that they share these objectives no less than the Bush Administration does. They understand full well what's imperialist about what the U.S. has done. (It's worth recalling that the first Congressional resolution supporting "regime change" in Iraq -- which was, admittedly, non-binding -- was passed in 1998, with the full support of the Clinton Adminstration and Senate Democrats.) What else explains, for instance, Obama's stated willingness to unilaterally bomb Pakistan? Or Clinton's dithering about what she would do? The Democrats are the left wing of the military-industrial complex: get the oil, make some noise about Palestinian rights, "oppose the war and support the troops" (a pathetic rhetorical evasion of serious debate about the war), vilify Bush's "incompetence" for the umpteenth time, chicken out when it comes to civil liberties and cutting funding for the war, which is the only serious way to get this President to do anything.
What's truly sobering is that, given the persistence of U.S. economic, diplomatic, and strategic interests, we're not leaving Iraq. Getting out would require, not only that we have an open and unfettered debate about our relationship with Israel (don't hold your breath on that), but that we get serious about finding substitutes for oil (don't hold your breath on that either).
I must say I find it amusing that Powers has, in effect, confirmed what the radical left has been saying about the war all along. Many contributors to this and other blogs have been characterizing us as a bunch of wackos for quite some time, and now we have one of the nation's premiere analysts of foreign and military affairs saying, gee, those wackos got it right. We'll all learn a lot more from Chalmers Johnson than from Thomas Friedman, that overrated blowhard who, when once confronted on NPR with his support for the invasion, said, "Yes, there were no WMDs. I'll have to live with that." While thousands have died with that.
What's truly sobering is that, given the persistence of U.S. economic, diplomatic, and strategic interests, we're not leaving Iraq. Getting out would require, not only that we have an open and unfettered debate about our relationship with Israel (don't hold your breath on that), but that we get serious about finding substitutes for oil (don't hold your breath on that either).
I must say I find it amusing that Powers has, in effect, confirmed what the radical left has been saying about the war all along. Many contributors to this and other blogs have been characterizing us as a bunch of wackos for quite some time, and now we have one of the nation's premiere analysts of foreign and military affairs saying, gee, those wackos got it right. We'll all learn a lot more from Chalmers Johnson than from Thomas Friedman, that overrated blowhard who, when once confronted on NPR with his support for the invasion, said, "Yes, there were no WMDs. I'll have to live with that." While thousands have died with that.
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