Guardian strikes against Bush, for the Nth time:

steve bell has been called the british ted rall:

here's why.

its kinda funny. i really think there is some ignorance on the part of the administration.....not in a "bush is dumb" simplistic way, but i don't really think they are understanding some of the sensibilities of this area of the world. as in, either they are too soft or way too hard. if it wasn't the "promote america" with the bs marketing coordinator who was fired some time ago for her failure to 'brand america' in the arab world, then it is the systematic, it was the fact they believe that respecting their enemies desecration of religious sites (Najaf) should be tolerated.

now i'm no expert on the middle east, and any of the yale/harvard/princeton/ivey league PHD's that the administration have lying around are probably the most well read of anybody......(check out an MIT reading list for any class.....they are experts in any arts after even one class apparently). so what's the deal? they are making a hodge podge of policy on the fly without any realization of the impacts.

take the total dismantling of the entire iraqi bureaucracy....the "de baathification". to be in the bureaucracy, they had to be a member of the baath party.....so they effectively destroyed the entire brain of the state. all that institutional memory? destroyed. all the know how, education, experience, insight, leadership, and....infrastructure were destroyed immediately. so what are you left with? a headless, anarchist state, with the most intelligent out of work and alienated and the ignorant completely at the mercy of others in the power vacuum.

enter sadr.

so this frickin' mess is making me lose hope in the americans and their abilities. i don't believe that if they cannot do this job. i believe that their defeatist media at home, the pussyfooting around enemies, and their lack of planning has royally screwed this thing up. its time to get with the program, america. you're hated all over the world and its time to put this shit right. you gotta do it. whatevers left of the world that doesn't completely hate you ( and some parts that do) are still pulling for you to do the right thing here.