Bushwhacked! There He Goes Again!

Today we have a post from Peace Tree contributing author, Christopher Wilcox.

Bushwhacked! There He Goes Again!

On Wednesday Iran freed the 15 British sailors they had held captive for thirteen days as a goodwill gesture and called the release an Easter gift to the British people. I find it remarkable that the Iranian government associated the release with one of the most sacred of Christian holidays but I have to wonder what in the heck they were thinking about in the first place. What could Iran have thought they would gain from taking the sailors as hostage? With multiple American carrier fleets in the Persian Gulf and a commander in chief that has been thought of as trigger happy it would seem the Iranians were very fortunate that the British asked America to stand down. Didn’t Ahmadinejad watch CNN during the first Gulf War? With our troops stretched to the max in a ground war in Iraq there was no way we were going to engage in the same in Iran.

A war with Iran would involve American sailors at keyboards 100 miles off shore targeting Patriot missiles deep into the heart of Iran and F18 Hornets flying deadly sorties over Tehran. I’m just thinking that provoking an escalation of Middle East tensions was not very wise on Iran’s part. Not only that but it’s our job to escalate Middle East tensions damn it! Just who in this dad-burned-world does Ahmadinejad think he is anyway? It was very disappointing to see Iran take such a provocative stance. World opinion was on the verge of looking to Iran as possibly playing a stabilizing role, along with other Middle Eastern powers, in defusing tensions in Iraq. Now we might dismiss them as lacking the rationality necessary to be instrumental in any semblance of a peace initiative in the region. Any political capital Iran had gained as a result of the findings from the Iraq Study Group was blown in a flash of bravado when Iran took the British sailors captive simply because they could.

Just as it has been suggested that Bush has squandered the world support given after the attack against America on 9/11 Iran now appears to be a loose cannon. So now we have the two biggest kids on the block lacking the credibility to bring an end to sectarian violence or earn the confidence of other nations that we can be trusted in our motives. When the talk of there being no “good way” to end our commitment in Iraq, when our nation is divided with a heavy dominance by anti-war sentiment and when hundreds of American soldiers and Iraqi civilians are dying every month it would be easy to lose hope.

There is hope, however. Congress is beginning to regain some swagger as they reclaim their constitutional powers and confront the president with the reality that our mission is not working and a majority in America no longer supports it. And then there is Nancy Pelosi, bravely heeding the advice of the Iraq Study Group, ignoring criticism from the White House and traveling to Syria for a meeting with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. Remarkable news came from her visit to Syria. Al-Assad claimed to be ready to begin peace negotiations with Israel. While I won’t hold my breath it is at least a beginning to dialogue on a very important issue. Oh, and if you are one of the few people who think Pelosi was irresponsible for visiting Syria, GOP Representatives Frank Wolf - VA, Robert Aderholt - AL and Joseph Pitts – PA have just returned from a visit to Syria that was condoned by the White House. While the White House was very vocal in their criticism of Pelosi they tried to keep quiet the GOP delegation visit. So while we tell the Middle East that they need to learn to cooperate and find political solutions for their differences we have a president in the United States who never makes a decision without political one-up-man-ship as his objective.

Take for instance our new ambassador to Belgium. In a move that could be described no more accurately than “Bush-whacked” the president bypassed the Congress in the appointment of Swift Boater Sam Fox as ambassador to Belgium. Once again, the president did not step outside the law but in making his recess appointment the unpopular lame duck president deceptively circumvented Congress and clearly demonstrated his word can not be trusted. Last month Bush knew he would not have sufficient votes to secure confirmation for Fox and withdrew the nomination. Yesterday, as soon as Congress had left town to meet with constituents over Easter break Bush appointed Fox without Senate confirmation. The unilateral decision making of this president, in spite of opposition from the very people he was elected to serve, is filling the airwaves with endless charges of misdeeds, corruption and question of illegalities.

When I heard the news of the Fox appointment the famous debate words of Ronald Reagan instantly came to mind. “There you go again!” Bush continues to pull stunts like this. He continually flouts democratic principles and then wonders why 200 million Americans question his integrity. And his remaining supporters question why we think he is dumb. So it goes.

Please visit Chris at his home blog Red Hog Diary
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Peace y'all

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