How America Created a Terrorist Haven (Iraq) NYT

[enough]

By JESSICA STERN

Yesterday's bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad was the latest evidence that America has taken a country that was not a terrorist threat and turned it into one.

Of course, we should be glad that the Iraq war was swifter than even its proponents had expected, and that a vicious tyrant was removed from power. But the aftermath has been another story. America has created — not through malevolence but through negligence — precisely the situation the Bush administration has described as a breeding ground for terrorists: a state unable to control its borders or provide for its citizens' rudimentary needs.

As the administration made clear in its national security strategy released last September, weak states are as threatening to American security as strong ones. Yet its inability to get basic services and legitimate governments up and running in post-war Afghanistan and Iraq — and its pursuant reluctance to see a connection between those failures and escalating anti-American violence — leave one wondering if it read its own report.

much more>

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/20/opinion/20STER.html?th

[el_gato]

1. NYT sucks

example:

"As the administration made clear in its national security strategy released last September, weak states are as threatening to American security as strong ones."

This is an example of trying to justify the propaganda NYT and Judith Miller spewed leading up to this invasion.

They constantly help create these problems and then whine about how it's going wrong afterwards. Like Safire whining about Big Brother. The scumbag is responsible but they (all the media) take no responsibility.

[lanlady]

2. Overall

this was a damn good piece, well argued, and pretty damning to the Busheviks.

I'm glad Judith Miller isn't regaling us with her fairy tales anymore.

[Saintgermane]

3. I have to laugh...

...each time some editorial invokes the holy grail of "more foreign troops", in some blase, off-the cuff fashion, as if they are merely mentioning the obvious to the administration.

Where are the scathing editorials illustrating to the American populace that the reason there are no foreig troops, in significant numbers, is because we allowed our government to embark upon an unjust war, in the face of internal opposition, predicated by misinformation and manipulation of the truth?

As a nation, unfortunately, we are reaping what we have sown.

And joe sixpack will never, ever understand the complexities, any more than our current President seems to understand them.

[gristy]

4. What a friggin' disaster

The neocon's unwavering assurance to Americans that the U.S. can bring peace and "democracy" to Iraq took a big hit yesterday. This absolute ARROGANCE of bushco is just beyond me. Many think that it will be the economy that will be Bushco's downfall next year. I've changed my mind today. Iraq is out of control, the U.S. is powerless to regain it, and this alone will bring the end of bush next year. A tanked economy on top of it will then make it a landslide.

And America will be left to clean up the neocons' mess.

[loyalsister]

5. Sort of like

when LBJ "lost Cronkite." This admin isn't humble enough to throw in the towel, though. They'll try to claw their way out of it, but I really think people are getting fed up.
The military is pissed at them, and the anti-intellectuals they courted are no longer charmed. Anti-intellectualism is largely what got Bush close enough to steal that election. Once voters with that mentality feel betrayed, they vote AGAINST the person who has betrayed them. People who were gung-ho for the war are even getting mad. Not over problems with policy, but because they don't feel victorious. They also may know people who are over there on their extended "one weekend a month" duty.