On Face the Nation this
weekend, Texas Governor Rick Perry
took his limited air time to bash fellow Republican, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. Governor Perry accused Mr. Paul of being an “isolationist,” and wanting to draw a
“red line around the United States ”
because Mr. Paul urges us to stay out of the religious battles and internecine
conflicts that now characterize much of the Middle East .
Governor Perry accused Mr. Paul of having his head in the sand because
the Islamic State is a dangerous
terrorist group that will not be satisfied in establishing a caliphate in large
swaths of Iraq Syria United States
Mr. Perry apparently made all these accusations with a
straight face. That he was able to do
so is remarkable given that it was Mr. Perry and those of his ilk who were,
just a few short months ago, urging us to join the conflict in Syria on the side of what is now called
the Islamic State, the very terror group he (in all likelihood correctly)
accuses of wanting to inflict great harm on the U.S. homeland. It was Mr. Perry (and John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and all the other usual suspects) who
was urging us to bomb Bashar Assad’s
forces, which are fighting the forces of the Islamic State. Messrs. Perry, McCain, and Graham deny that
they wanted to help out the Islamic State…no sir, they wanted to help the “moderates” in Syria . That defense for their militaristic impulse
is laughable. Even assuming that these
“moderates” are genuine and are not, as are so many of our “friends” in the Middle East, merely striking a pose in
order to get access to American money and start numbered offshore bank
accounts, the real force behind the opposition to Bashar Assad is provided by
the most radical elements of his opposition, most saliently the Islamic
State. Any action against Mr. Assad is de facto support for the Islamic State
that Mr. Perry and his pals purport to oppose.
We can draw one of two conclusions about the inherent
contradictions behind the Perry/McCain/Graham
approach to the Islamic State, professing to be so opposed to the State while
urging action to fight its battles for it.
First, Messrs. McCain, Perry and Graham are completely
ignorant of the Middle East and/or are completely delusional
about the array of forces in the area.
They are either complete dullards and/or they simply cannot fathom a Syria
or Iraq in
which the U.S.
has no visible support among anyone who is not on its payroll. These pols seem to think that there are
legions of people in the Middle East who are absolutely
delighted that we have inflicted massive casualties on them and their families
in Iraq and Afghanistan
and thus have been rendered “moderate” and “pro-Western,”
ready to vanquish dictators and establish Arab versions of Jeffersonian democracy at our mere request.
Second, Messrs. McCain, Perry, and Graham are no fools and
are completely aware that we have few friends in the Middle East . Further, they know that they are being
completely self-contradictory in urging action against both the Islamic State
and its most salient enemy, the regime of Bashar Assad. But Messrs. McCain, Perry, and Graham simply
don’t care. They want American
involvement in every conflict in which such involvement is possible. They have to make good IOUs to the “defense
contractors” who finance their positions of power and prestige, who
enable them to remain in jobs in which their most urgent and constant task is
to have their hindquarters smooched. So
if going to war anywhere with anyone will make the “defense” contractors happy,
the money flowing, and thus the likes of Messrs. McCain, Perry, and Graham
comfortably ensconced in the lifelong sinecures they call careers, going to war
anywhere with anyone must be a very good thing.
Which one is it, Messrs. Perry, McCain, and Graham? Are you ignorant or merely servicing the
people who keep you in your cushy jobs that would make a Middle Eastern
suzerain envious?
No comments:
Post a Comment