Only the names change as U.S. policy blunders on

[dArKeR]

Don't blame it on the neo-cons.
The war in Iraq, instigated by the United States and supported by an ever-dwindling consortium of its allies, may mark the dead end of Western idealism. Very few may still believe it was a desire to spread freedom and democracy that motivated this alliance to invade Iraq, or that it is this desire keeping its soldiers there. It was the neo-conservative strategists in Washington who, through their spokesman George W. Bush, spread the message that America's destiny was to secure a foothold in Iraq, occupy the moral high ground, and teach the world a lesson it would not soon forget.

The lesson was simply this: That history had bestowed on the U.S. a mission to impress its version of democracy on every member of the human race, whatever values they may cherish.

At the time of the opening of hostilities in Iraq in 2003, the core neo-cons were: Paul Wolfowitz, deputy secretary of defense; Donald Rumsfeld, his boss; Douglas Feith, Pentagon tactician, formerly of the National Security Council; Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's right-hand man; Richard Perle, Pentagon architect of the policy of "creative destruction" in the Middle East; and John Bolton, a leading Department of State official who saw Iraq as a stepping stone to the imposition of American ideas of governance "beyond the axis of evil."

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20050731rp.htm

[Miss Chybil]

1. Manifest destiny...

White man's burden. What do they expect? We're only doing what we have to do, right?

:sarcasm:

[bemildred]

2. Otherwise known as "liebensraum" and "bringing civilization"

to the benighted natives. I like this quote:

Ironically, the white man continues to be called "cultured" and the rest as "hadjis", "brutes", and "ragheads". This incongruity cannot be clearer than in the answer of an Indian to a taunting European settler. The Indian said, "White man, you have wiped us out, you stole our lands, you destroyed our homes, and you raped our women and brought deadly diseases to our people. You have done all the unthinkable crimes anyone can imagine. It does not hurt me any more. What truly hurts my people and me is that despite all these crimes you have committed against my people, we are considered savages and you the 'civilized' people. That truly hurts me the most!"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x143970

[Miss Chybil]

3. How sad.

It's true.