Peter Boulding wrote:
>
> On Mon, 12 May 2008 15:05:04 +0000, "Bill Bonde ( 'the oblique allusion
in
> lieu of the frontal attack' )" <tributyltinpaint@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
> <48285CA0.B639A02E@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>:
>
> >What exactly are these people so mad at Bush about?
>
> As I said, by "these" people you mean *most* people. And the obvious
answer
> is "what's *not* to be mad about?" The enormous harm he has done in
terms of
> discrediting democracy, damaging human and civil rights, advocating
torture,
> further destabilising the Middle East, destroying America's reputation
and
> credibility; and his abject failure to address crises in the
environment,
> job ex****ts, deregulated finance, competition from the Tiger Economies,
New
> Orleans, etc., are obvious; Bush has managed to discredit every creed he
has
> embraced - including Christianity.
>
> And what good has done? Most people can't see *any*.
>
> >It amazes me
> >that "Iraq" could be such a big deal. How is Iraq different than
> >Panama, Granada, the Balkans?
>
> The Balkans, like Gulf 1, had widespread international sup****t and did
not
> reek of military or economic imperialism. The prime motive was to ensure
the
> continuation of stability in Western Europe and in this NATO was fairly
> successful.
>
> Iraq is in some ways very similar to Panama, except in scale; in both
cases
> the US turned against its own man as soon as the level of embarrassment
he
> was causing outweighed his usefulness.
>
> Granada is said to be the only occasion on which Reagan's people were
unable
> to persuade him out of a piece of real dumbass stupidity, but was on
such a
> tiny scale that no-one other than Clint Eastwood bothered very much.
>
> The list of reasons why Iraq stands out from the rest is long and has
been
> gone over endlessly; if you haven't cottoned on by now it's unlikely
that
> you ever will. Suffice it to say that it was a war of choice, not
necessity;
> that it poured fuel onto the flames of the Middle East instead of
dousing
> them; that it played totally into the hands of religious fundamentalists
> everywhere; and (this is the only part that wasn't widely predicted)
that
> its execution was ****ed up so badly that the resulting disaster is on a
par
> with that now being precipitated by the Burmese generals, not to mention
the
> massive damage it has done to the global - and especially the US -
economy.
>
> --
> Regards, Peter 'why am I replying to Bill Bonde?'
Indeed
>Boulding
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