Robert Parry: Fatal Flaws of Bush's 'Tough-Guy-ism'

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/6340

Fatal Flaws of Bush's 'Tough-Guy-ism'
by Robert Parry | Mar 26 2007


The showdown over Iraq War funding will test the political appeal of George W. Bush’s dominant foreign policy approach – what might be called “tough-guy-ism” – the concept of picking fights and battling until “victory” whatever the ghastly cost.

“Tough-guy-ism” is a philosophy with its own historical narrative, which was put on display by Bush’s Republican defenders during the March 23 debate on a House bill to condition Iraq War funding on a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. combat forces.

According to that narrative, the Vietnam War was betrayed by liberals in Congress who prevented the U.S. military and its South Vietnamese allies from achieving "victory." The narrative also holds that U.S. forces should have fought on to "victory" after intervening in Lebanon’s civil war in the 1980s and in Somalia in the 1990s.

Indeed, “tough-guy-ism” insists that all conflicts no matter how misguided must end in American "victory," even if military strategists conclude that "victory" is either impossible – as in Vietnam – or would far outweigh any value to U.S. national security – as in Lebanon and Somalia.

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[Demeter]

1. Can You Imagine Today If Nixon HADN'T Thrown in the Towel on Vietnam?

We'd be right where we are now, only 30 years' more of it.

[yurbud]

2. with agent orange and our new depleted uranium, they probably would have stopped having kids

so we'd "liberate" everyone eventually.

[Mechatanketra]

3. This "historical narrative" has another, more formal name.

And Godwin be damned, that name is Dolchstosslegende.