Ends and means...
I’ve listened to Mr. Bush’s last four speeches and finally know why this man is unfit to lead the United States.It’s not that he said nothing right. I’m gratified that he took a couple of unscripted audience questions after one speech, and I am glad he accepted, at long last, responsibility for making decisions on flawed intelligence.
It’s what he hasn’t said. Mr. Bush still has not come close to acknowledging the clear role his vice president and other members of his administration played in cooking pre-war intelligence, lobbying for war with Iraq, and, once there, screwing up the prosecution of the war.
And, worse, what truly makes Mr. Bush unfit to lead this country rests in the theme of his final let's-win-back-support-for-the-war speech: establishment of a democratic government in Iraq. Mr. Bush's the-ends-justify-the-means rationale for going to war in Iraq is the most undemocratic excuse for his failures and abuses of power.
To be sure, I am pleased the Iraqis appear to be embracing democracy, but not at the cost of undermining America’s core democratic value that the means justify the ends. That’s what democracy is all about, and it's too bad Bush, et al. have never understood this.
posted by james and penelope at
11:45 AM
2 Comments:
I worked the intel biz for 8 years during the Carter and Reagan administrations and the lesson I learned the most is this. It doesnt matter whether its a Republican or a Democrat in the White House, party hacks will be party hacks.
Bush acted on intel primarily from the previous administration. His own intel even if he had 8 years wouldnt have been any better. Intel agencies were mostly gutted from Reagan's administration on to today. Even if we staffed up to the levels of the Nixon or Kennedy administrations, it will be years if not decades before any of it is meaningful.
I like what I heard Thomas Friedman said the other day on Charley Rose. He saw Iraq as presenting America with two envelopes. One envelope says Iraq is like Germany after WWII and by just removing a bad regime the country came to be a great ally. The other envelope says Iraq is more like Yugoslavia being held together by the iron fist of Hussein. Remove the fist and the whole country disintegrates. My fear is the second envelope more closely resembles what we are in for in Iraq.
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