Bush Blasted On Iraq
In today's NYT, Paul Krugman points out how the media is downplaying the situation in Iraq, even though the US has actually suffered MORE casualties since the late June handover of sovereignty. In another NYT opinion piece, Bob Herbert criticizes Bush's "failure of leadership" and compares his lack of truth about the war to Nixon and Johnson's mistruths about Vietnam.
Krugman and Herbert are right on the ball with these pieces. As usual, the corporate mainstream media is playing exactly into the White House and Pentagon's hands by taking Iraq off the front pages. The average citizen may believe that Iraq and Afghanistan are stable, free democracies where Americans are showered with praise as liberators, but the situation could not be further from the truth. US troops are overstretched and facing dangerous insurgencies in both countries. While the media may be ignoring the grim reality, skeptical citizens such as myself will not take this lying down. It is the duty of a citizen in a democracy to arm himself with information, and that is exactly what those of us in the blogosphere are doing.
Krugman and Herbert are right on the ball with these pieces. As usual, the corporate mainstream media is playing exactly into the White House and Pentagon's hands by taking Iraq off the front pages. The average citizen may believe that Iraq and Afghanistan are stable, free democracies where Americans are showered with praise as liberators, but the situation could not be further from the truth. US troops are overstretched and facing dangerous insurgencies in both countries. While the media may be ignoring the grim reality, skeptical citizens such as myself will not take this lying down. It is the duty of a citizen in a democracy to arm himself with information, and that is exactly what those of us in the blogosphere are doing.
posted by Ben at 11:34 AM
4 Comments:
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Nice perspective Ben. Seems like you're staying away from the alienating and ineffective polemic that's so pervasive in the U.S. left. My feeling is that you're probably making a sweeping and inaccurate generalization about the greater public's perception of the war and world though.
And on a side note, interesting the idea that it's the responsibility of a citizen in a democratic society to inform themselves and particpate in the process. Interesting, because my thesis at the end of this summer is that the Mexican middle class is very politically conscious, but that this consciousness, rather than produce participation has led to greater apathy, since it is impossible to understand the Mexican political system and simultaneously believe in it.... just a side note.
-The Conservative A-hole
Mike, I appreciate your comments. I DO strongly believe that is the duty of a citizen in a democracy to arm oneself with information to prevent tyranny of the government. Your thesis sounds really interesting, but could you explain more what you mean about the Mexicans having a strong political consciousness, yet lacking true knowledge?
UnityMike here again. I'm not sure if the Conservative A-Hole is simply another Mike you know, but it's not me, in case you thought that.
There are several ways to further discuss your post, but I'll focus on one: Afghanistan. So far I don't think Kerry has done enough to turn the issue of Afghanistan against Bush. Congress, as you know, provided almost unaminous support for the war in Afghanistan. But I think the prevailing wisdom among most of the public is still that the war was a complete success. Numerous pieces have addressed Afghanistan's continuing woes, but Kerry needs to do more now to remind the public of what I think are the administration's two greatest mistakes:
1.) The botching of the Tora Bora missions, which seem to have allowed numerous Al Qaeda operatives--and very well Osama himself--to escape.
2.) Allowing the country to revert to pervasive warlordism. As several commentators have put it, Afghanistan is pretty stable. . . in Kabul. Warlords, combined with outside influence from countries like Iran, have too often been the main sources of aid for Afghanis. This is obviously not how it should be, especially since we all know these warlords (one of whom will actually be one of Karzai's contenders in the fall elections) are, oh shall we say, a bit opportunistic.
Although not an error, Kerry could also do more to stress France and Germany's role in Afghanistan. He should say, Look, while America and many of its usual allies disagreed about Iraq, we shouldn't act as if they are never willing to help us out.
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