Originally posted by Seree Zohar:
"RJ
re:
'I think our current administration is just too incompetent to handle the complexity.'
while many may feel that to be true, I am not at all sure any administration could do a great deal better; the below
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110008768
is only 13 short paragraphs in length but describes, with clarity, a mindset that is tough (understatement) to crack and entirely foregin to ours, making it all the more incomprehensible and difficult to work with."
Thanks, Seree, I read it.
The apocalyptic view is not exclusively the province of radical Iranians. It's held by many radical, right wing fundamentalists in our country. They make up a significant portion of the Republic Party base, and I'd not be surprised if Mr. Bush anticipates the second coming. (I have a friend who's called him the Antichrist since he decided to make war in the Middle East.)
I think there's a parallel between apocalyptic expectations and the expectations of the neocons when they discuss the benefits of "creative destruction" in the Middle East, you know, "the birth pangs of the New Middle East."
Here's the part of the article you cite that most disturbs me:
"In the long term, it would seem that the best, perhaps the only hope is to appeal to those Muslims, Iranians, Arabs and others who do not share these apocalyptic perceptions and aspirations, and feel as much threatened, indeed even more threatened, than we are."
Our administration WAS making that appeal, especially to the nations of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, trying to get them (with some success) to assist in the discrediting and disarming of Hezbollah. Unfortunately, after the devastation that the Israeli response wrought, they backed off and showed sympathy for Lebanon and less suspicion and fear of Hezbollah.
As Kurt Vonnegut would say, "So it goes."
Bob
[This message has been edited by Robert J. Clawson (edited August 22, 2006).]