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Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
If Rich Lowry found a couple words in them to quote, they must be fully on board with his entire argument. Sure, that follows.
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I've actually read the some of the articles. The general tone is that Bush should get some credit, as much as they had to admit it.
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As you may know, there is much debate going on right now about the extent to which Bush can take credit for what's happening in Lebanon. I've already posted here about what I think. I respect many of the people with whom I disagree, but only because they seem to have thought about the issue and can try to explain what we've done that might be influencing events there. I don't think the fact that Iraq held elections influenced Lebanon much at all, and I haven't seen any reporting from Lebanon suggesting otherwise. Instead, most of the people asserting that the good things happening in Lebanon are the direct result of our Iraq policy don't speak Arabic or French, don't seem to know much about Lebanon, and probably couldn't have told you much about the country before Newsweek et al. started running photos of pretty Lebanese chicks. IMHO, Ukraine and Arabic TV were more significant influences.
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What Bush has done is set a general tone that gives aid and comfort to those struggling for freedom. Go ask any of the Eastern Bloc dissidents from the 80s what that type of unwavering support from the most powerful nation in the world did for them. Bush actually has done more, in that he has backed rhetoric with action in two 3rd world muslim states. Couple the two together, and those struggling for freedom have a reasonable basis to believe they may be successful.
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Equating Lebanon and Iraq requires that you ignore that most of the Arab world disapproves of our occupation of Iraq in the same way that they disapprove of Syria's occupation of Lebanon.
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Are we also "occupying" Japan, South Korea, and Western Europe?
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Yes, as a matter of fact Democrats did stand up to communism in Central America and around the world. The military build-up in the 1980s started under Carter, for example. Obviously there were things that Reagan did with which Democrats disagreed, but you are off in La La Land if you want to pretend that Democrats didn't give a shit about the Cold War.
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Easy tough guy. I am suggesting that they disputed the means not the end.
