| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Harry Hope" |
| Date: |
04 Jul 2004 08:56:15 AM |
| Object: |
Emperor Georgie retreats from his colony |
it is not surprising that the United States' presence there, which
endures in the form of more than 130,000 troops, has prompted a lively
debate over whether the United States is today an empire.
Views have ranged from an embrace of the label to outrage.
A lot of the latter has come from President Bush himself, who insists:
"We do not seek an empire. Our nation is committed to freedom for
ourselves and for others."
But some of his neoconservatives supporters have suggested the United
States need not be shy about running the world.
From The New York Times, 7/4/04:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/04/weekinreview/04cohe.html
Strange Bedfellows: 'Imperial America' Retreats From Iraq
By ROGER COHEN
The Age of Empire is passed, and governments throughout the world were
uncomfortable with what they saw as the brazen exercise of American
authority over a country reduced to vassal status through force of
arms.
Mr. Bremer, a Christian ruling a Muslim country, could not fail to be
a lightning rod to Islamic extremists in Iraq and beyond.
Perhaps "proconsul," with its echoes of imperial Rome, is a harsh word
for the former administrator of Iraq.
I met Mr. Bremer last December in his office in Mr. Hussein's bizarre
Republican Palace, built in the despot's favored Mesopotamian Fascist
style.
He was businesslike, determined and self-effacing.
But the setting, an ornate monument to a tyrant, seemed to capture all
the irreconcilable contradictions of his role.
Mr. Bremer's mission was to bring freedom and democracy to Iraq.
Yet he proposed rule "of the people, by the people and for the people"
from a palace inside a sprawling fortress known as the Green Zone,
where he was severed from contact with the life of average Iraqis.
"We don't do empire," Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld declared
memorably after the first phase of the war.
But Mr. Bremer was obliged to do something that looked very much like
it.
He directed political affairs, doled out contracts, drafted
regulations and discussed the next military move with American
commanders at the palace - all in a country where hostility could not
be tamed and that was not and would never be his.
Here, perhaps, was the core of the problem: the United States seldom,
if ever, looked more like an empire in a 19th-century British guise
than over the 14 months of Mr. Bremer's rule.
__________________________________________________________
All hail Emperor Georgie who, by the way, has lost his clothes.
Harry
.
|
|
|
Related Articles |
Georgie sez - Hey, gang, why don't we privatize Medicare?
Georgie's obsessed with the word "program" again. Poor kid.
Georgie leaves for his month vacation.: US Soldier Killed, 3 Wounded in Ambush
Hey, Georgie, where're the WMD? C'mon, kids're gettin' killed over there.
My, my. Only 38% think Li'l Georgie's gonna back in the White House.
Hey, Georgie, don't let yer daddy find out.
Georgie plays hero again.
What is Georgie Bush today? Well, waddya know. He's an environmentalist!
| The traitor (no, not Georgie) in the Bush White House will be outed this week
Georgie's gas price nightmare
What's your agenda, Georgie? Georgie sez...uh...safer, stronger, better. Yup.
Hey, gang, didja hear? Li'l Georgie's gonna kick butt. Ain't that great?
Wanna know why Georgie's brains are scrambled?
Some folks won't take too kindly to Georgie wimping out of a debate
Georgie forgot to take his meds
|
|
|
