Rice unwittingly revealed what is so dangerous about Bush's foreign policy

[dajoki]

Slate
http://www.slate.com/id/2146392

There Are Worse Things Than the Status Quo
Condi's witless optimism about the Middle East.

By Fred Kaplan
Posted Monday, July 24, 2006, at 6:09 PM ET

Condoleezza Rice revealed—far more articulately, if unwittingly, than any other official has in some time—just what is so dangerous about President George W. Bush's foreign policy.

<<snip>>

Then came the killer sentence, the sentiment that explains so much about what's gone wrong with American diplomacy and not just in the Middle East:

What we're seeing here is, in a sense, the growing—the birth pangs of a new Middle East, and whatever we do, we have to be certain that we're pushing forward to the new Middle East, not going back to the old Middle East.

How many souls over the decades have sallied forth into the desert, beaming with bright eyes and blueprints for a "new Middle East," only to bog down in the dunes, blistered by sunstroke and bitten by scorpions?

It's not so much the blithe arrogance that's troubling—the belief among many top Bush aides that they can ignore history and culture, that they've hit upon the magic formula that has eluded countless others. (After all, every president deserves a shot at making "enduring peace" in the Middle East.) It's the stunning confidence in this belief—held so deeply that they're willing to push ahead with their vision even at great sacrifice of political stability and human life.

"I have no interest in diplomacy for the sake of returning Lebanon and Israel to the status quo ante," Rice said. And yet, sometimes a return to the status quo is the best you can hope for in this region. "I could have … rushed over and started shuttling," but "it wouldn't have been clear what I was shuttling to do." Well, for starters, you could have saved hundreds of lives, preserved billions of dollars in property, and perhaps stemmed the tide of rising anti-Israeli (and, by extension, anti-American) passion.

[TomInTib]

1. All this "birth" and "crib" blather...

I saw her say this on my teevee set this morning and just could not believe what I had just heard.

[patrice]

3. Buzz words.

Very evocative. Hot buttons.

Just keep saying them, don't change, buzz, buzz, buzz . . . . And if you just believe long enough and hard enough, it comes true, just like prayer.

[TomInTib]

4. Prezactly.

I am just waiting for the next tearful "incubator" tale.

My current fave is "killing innocent life".

Even if one takes out "innocent", it is still an eye-roller. "Killing life".

[dajoki]

16. Does that mean "stay the course"?

[Canuckistanian]

12. We're not going to like this kid when he grows up

Frankenstein's monster come to mind for some reason...

[IndianaGreen]

2. Isn't that what Pope Pope Urban II said when he launched the Crusades

In the year 1095, people were shocked in Western Europe by the words of Pope Urban II, "The Muslims have conquered Jerusalem". Pope Urban wanted the Christians to retake Jerusalem from the Muslims. People shouted "God wills it". All over France these were the warring words of the Christians.

http://www.kyrene.k12.az.us/schools/brisas/sunda/ma/1kyle.htm

Childless Condi sure has a lot to teach us about birth pangs.

[no_hypocrisy]

7. The Greeks and the Romans miserably failed as well. n/t

[wake.up.america]

10. Urban 2 was not a nice guy.

[dajoki]

5. I take this to mean...

Bushco should do no more damage.

sometimes a return to the status quo is the best you can hope for in this region

[opihimoimoi]

6. Some Security Advisor she turns out to be....

All the tools and warnings re 9/11 and she fucks it up

Now as SOS...she has many tools only to reject them and go for the PNACs Plan of domination in the region....

She is sickening to watch and listen to...She is a FRAUD

[IndianaGreen]

9. You are right, Condi is the biggest fraud we ever had in that position

Why not a fraud for National Security Advisor and Secretary of State for a President that is a fraud himself.

[dajoki]

17. Don't forget Rummy, Cheney et. al.

[ProfessorPlum]

8. "Birth pangs" is fundy-speak

See Digby on this:

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_07_01_digbysblog_archive.html#115369965323970970

[ChickMagic]

20. You beat me to it

Great minds and all that. :)

[OneBlueSky]

11. the only thing missing was the word "crusades" . . . n/t

.

[dajoki]

18. Bush already used that word n/t

[WinkyDink]

13. What Bushco wants is global ownership of markets, with people

no longer citizens of any nation, but mere workers and consumers.

Bush uses the word "democracy" to mean nothing more or less than a free-market dictatorship.

[Javaman]

14. Sorry, but this one died of crib death. nt

[Az_lefty]

15. "birth pangs" "rapture"

thats what this idiot is really referring to. These people are part of the group that thanks they are the anointed ones to bring on Armageddon.
:eyes:

[loudsue]

19. Maybe that speech is what put the republican masters over the top.

They're all calling for bush to take her out of the SoS role, and make her some kind of adviser. She just outed the PNAC doctrine and its insanity for the whole world to see, when she made these blithe comments.

Someone forgot to tell Rice that PNAC is supposed to be brought about by stealth, not by announcement. The PNAC signers are pissed. Ooopsie!

:kick::kick::kick:

[dajoki]

21. I believe that ship has sailed...

she will be a fixture 'till Bush is gone.