Scapegoating Iraqis
By: Gustavus
Published On: 5/27/2007 10:25:29 AM
Frank Rich has one of his usual thought-provoking columns in today's NY Times (unfortunately, subscription required). He points out how the wing-nuts are now blaming everything that has gone wrong and is going wrong in Iraq on the Iraqis: "This month Mr. Bremer declared that the real culprits for his disastrous 2003 decision to cleanse Iraq of Baathist officials were unnamed Iraqi politicians who `broadened the decree's impact far beyond our original design.' " He reminds us of Rumsfeld's memo that said the Iraqis might "have to pull up their socks, step up and take responsibility for their country." And all of us who have watched Fox News, or listened to talk radio, have heard how we gave the Iraqis freedom but they have wasted it by starting a civil war. The poor Bush administration! They have done everything right, but the Iraqis are just too incompetent to appreciate or take advantage of our largess.
A horrible and depressing by-product of the war is that literally millions of Iraqis are fleeing their country, many, perhaps most, wanting to get to the United States. But, as Rich writes, "To admit that Iraqis are voting with their feet is to concede that American policy is in ruins." Therefore this administration has given only 466 Iraqis asylum here!
Like almost all honest writing about Iraq, Rich's column is depressing. It is a reminder, if we needed another one, of the horrible results that have come from most of the Bush administration policies. It is, most importantly, a reminder of how hard we all need to work in the next elections to get rid of Bush and those who support his policies.
Comments
Of course, the Bush Republicans will NEVER (Lowell - 5/27/2007 11:18:04 AM)
blame themselves or take responsibility for their actions. I just finished Doris Kearns Goodwin's masterful biography of another Republican, Abraham Lincoln, and the contrast couldn't be greater. Even in the most trying circumstances (e.g., his entire Presidency), Lincoln took responsibility, listened to good advice, changed course when warranted...showed leadership, in other words. I can't even imagine what Abraham Lincoln would think of this "heckuva job" Administration.
Gosh Lowell, I Call That Being A Grownup (norman swingvoter - 5/27/2007 7:39:58 PM)
I've always thought that taking responsibility is the difference between a grownup and a child. There may indeed be others that have contributed to your problems. However, a grownup acknowledges his/her part to the failure, picks up, and moves on. The bushes seem to have a victim mentality. Each week there is some new person/organization that has screwed them-lets see Iran, Syria, liberals that want us to lose, the evil old media that won't tell the truth, the Iraqis themselves, and on and on.
Thank you for visiting RK!
Exactly, you nailed it. (Lowell - 5/27/2007 7:54:58 PM)
These Bushies are children. Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Harry Truman, JFK...those were adults.
Scapegoating Iraqis (RPF - 5/27/2007 12:45:29 PM)
Gustavus is right to focus on Rich's highlighting of the numbers of Iraqis who have fled their fracturing country. It is a telling barometer of conditions there and the degree to which conditions are changing for the worse (especially so when we take into consideration the number of Iraqi professionals who make up those who have fled and are fleeing). In addition, however, it is important not to forget the millions of internally displaced Iraqis. Those who have fled will, one hopes and expects, ultimately come to rest in a country which, unlike the U.S., has the moral courage to welcome and accept them. The millions who are internally displaced will probably be an indefinitely lingering (and festering) legal and humanitarian problem and a moral black mark on our country.