Get Over It

When Bush was told that Hezbollah had attacked Israel, his immediate reaction was to announce that a phone call telling Iran to “cut that sh-t out” would take care of the problem. In short, whatever the cause of the conflict, just get over it. It’s mindful of how people dealt with mental illness before the advent of drugs. The mentally ill person was told by their families as well as some physicians to just get over it. The present administration believes that the answer to all the problems in the Middle East is “democracy”. Encourage free elections and the masses will vote in a parliamentarian government with a cooperative leader who will deal with the U.S. and Israel in an acceptable and peaceful manner. This fantasy is also the proposal of the think tanks in Washington as well as everybody else in Foggy Bottom. As we know, in Iraq we are forcing a false “democracy” on the country at the point of a gun. When Bush proposed more democracy for Russia, Putin cleverly replied that he certainly would not want the Iraqi version.

So what happens in the Middle East when the people are given the vote? In Iraq because of our presence there is now a civil war between the Sunnis and the Shias. However, in the Palestine authority Hamas, the Islamic party, won the election and is now in control of the government. In Lebanon Hezbollah now has 14 seats in the Lebanon parliament. None of this makes Washington very happy. Obviously give these countries “democracy” and they will vote for an Islamic state. On the other hand, the remaining countries in the Middle East except for Israel are autocracies. Our dependable allies in the region still remain Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, all autocracies. So the belief that “democracy” would be the cure-all is in reality a tooth fairy’s delusion. To give any of these autocratic countries the vote would undoubtedly place in power a hostile Islamic government, assuming that the present power brokers would even consider such a change. And the democracy that we would implant would be a myth. (See Iraq and Afghanistan) It would be a puppet government controlled by Washington. Keep in mind that the last thing Saudi Arabia would want is a popular vote. That would be the end of the monarchy. The powerful people who run that country want Saudi Arabia to remain just as it is so that they may use the money gained from oil in any despicable way that they see fit.

One comment on the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that appears to have ended: It was Israel’s intention by hitting the civilian populations very hard to turn them against Hezbollah and Hamas. But instead of destroying these authorities they have gained overwhelming support to the extent that 80% of the people polled endorsed both parties. Israel’s extreme violence has caused a severe blowback.

References:

Baer, Robert. Sleeping With The Devil, Crown, 2003
Wall Street Journal. 8/8/06. Mixed Message