This has been on the bottom of the in-box since 2 June. Don't know why it sat there so long, as it is a short, simple explanation of neo-conservative ideology, as well as one of the reasons "they" hate "us" so damn much. It's from one of America's Leading Warmongers™, Michael Ledeen, who's been linked with the Niger Yellowcake Uranium Affair (cf. Wikipedia, or search: "Ledeen + forgery") & of course has been heard recently suggesting that Iran needs a whuppin' soon too.
Here's the meat of the article, written by Jonah Goldberg in what is now nostalgically remembered as The Run-Up to The Glorious War.
WHY IRAQ? So how does all this, or the humble attempt at a history lesson of my last column, justify tearing down the Baghdad regime? Well, I've long been an admirer of, if not a full-fledged subscriber to, what I call the "Ledeen Doctrine." I'm not sure my friend Michael Ledeen will thank me for ascribing authorship to him and he may have only been semi-serious when he crafted it, but here is the bedrock tenet of the Ledeen Doctrine in more or less his own words: "Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business." That's at least how I remember Michael phrasing it at a speech at the American Enterprise Institute about a decade ago (Ledeen is one of the most entertaining public speakers I've ever heard, by the way). *There it is, flat-out, in black & white, neither holds barred nor punches pulled. No excuses made or offered, no search for WMDs, no oil-for-democracy deals, no "regional stabilization," just the brutal logic of the schoolyard bully, who must frighten others to quell his own fear. And that's why this is a two-front war; domestically, & wherever we smoke terrorists out. And the problem at home is not limp liberal weenies who "don't get it," are "soft on communislamiterrorism," and can't wait to stuff the womenfolk into burqas, but those like Ledeen & Goldberg who are compelled to lash out at the "crappy little countries," no matter their responsibility, and w/out taking responsibility for the proverbial blood & treasure squandered for their tantrums. Lives, & money, that should have been devoted to dealing with what actually threatens us, have been pissed away in pathetic macho posturing that has killed hundreds of thousands of human beings, greatly reduced our world standing, and reduced our safety by confirming for young Muslims that we are crusaders and they should get medieval on us. This has all been typed before, of course, by better typists than you'll read here, and Forgery Boy's quote is five years old now, but some things bear remembering & repeating.
*So "entertaining" Just Another Blog™ forgot to laugh.
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