Joe Conason: If you think they hate us now

[babylonsister]

If you think they hate us now

A Republican victory in 2008 could sink America's reputation in the world even lower.

By Joe Conason


Aug. 10, 2007 | Even if George W. Bush is the most awful American president in modern times, as many historians believe, and even though he has brought the United States into unprecedented disrepute around the world, as opinion polls indicate, the bombastic tone of the candidates seeking to succeed him from his own party raises a disturbing possibility.

If the next president is a Republican, this truly bad situation could become still worse.

Concerning the Iraq war, of course, there is no discernible difference between the current president and his would-be Republican successors (with the exception of Ron Paul, the libertarian antiwar candidate from Bush's home state of Texas). The leading GOP contenders have all endorsed the current escalation of U.S. forces. They all share the president's determination to keep our troops there indefinitely. They all insistently echo Bush by linking the invasion and occupation of Iraq with the attacks of 9/11.

Yet beyond the horrors of Iraq and the excesses of the "war on terror," for which history will hold him culpable, Bush at least has acknowledged the importance of reaching out to the world's Muslims (although he tends to reach out too often with bombs and a torture technique known as waterboarding). In his rhetoric, the president usually seeks to distinguish the religion of Islam, which he has honored in the White House on many occasions, from the murderous perversion of that faith. And in his best moments after 9/11, he has defended the rights of Muslim Americans to live here without suffering persecution or prejudice.

Perhaps Bush's efforts deserve to be dismissed as little more than lip service, but semantics matter. The Republicans most likely to win their party's presidential nomination constantly use language that is meant to inflame anger against Muslims for political advantage.

more...

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2007/08/10/gop_islam/

[brentspeak]

1. k and r

:kick:

[Spinzonner]

2. Not exactly surprising from a party that is aproponent of

uni-culturism