Quote:
Originally posted by sgtclub
I knew this was coming. Assuming that we could fast forward to 2014 and Iraq is a democracy in the vicinity of Turkey. Would you still not think it was not part of the war on terror?
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Assume that Bush gives everyone a pony, free. Would I not have to agree that he is a great president? Of course.
By your reasoning, the fact that Iraq is a clusterfuck heading in the wrong direction means that we are losing the war on terror, right?
I agree that it would be wonderful if Iraq were a democracy, and peaceful, and rich, and a beneficent calming influence on its neighbors, and a force for spreading moderate Islam and the rule of law in the Middle East. Back here in the real world, though, we've spent $200 billion, lost upwards of 1,000 U.S. soldiers, many more casualties from various nation's, and destabilized Iraq such that some of the people who supported the war are now thinking that if things turn out well, we'll have another Lebanon on our hands. We're praying for law and order -- democracy is a pipe dream.
In the last couple of days, Russia and China have taken steps away from democracy. Thanks to his foreign policy and focus on Iraq, Bush is not in much a position to do much about either, even if he were so inclined. (Cheney's reaction to Putin's post-Beslan power grab was to sympathize with the threat they face from fundamentalist Islam, which strikes me as ignorant and counterproductive.)
