BTN Global Iraq Link Dump
Political link dump time, going from England to Canada to Russia to break down Iraq for you.
First up, Tony Blair again demonstrates his eloquence, writing in the Observer (the UK left-center Guardian’s Sunday counterpart) about the progress that has been made in Iraq, and the consequences if Western societies lose their will to see the reconstruction of Iraq through.
It’s a credit to the Guardian that they chose to publish this, despite it going wholeheartedly against their editorial line; several of America’s purportedly non-ideological media outlets seem to have gone fully into defeat-Bush-at-any-cost mode, even at this early point in the race. To my disappointment, this has included the Washington Post, which I used to respect as a journalistic institution. Although generally leftist, the Post usually tended to approach the issues pragmatically rather than ideologically. That tone has changed, and I don’t care for it — were I a subscriber, I’d have cancelled delivery. If I want to read world affairs coverage from left-wing ideologues, the BBC does that better than the Post.
Another interesting commentary appears in the London (Ontario) Free Press, where University of Western Ontario political science professor Salim Mansur provides a strong exposition of why war was necessary in the first place, and summarizes the political currents that the US/British-led coalition hopes to unleash in the Middle East from a democratic Iraq.
Finally, we’ll head for the Moscow Times (in English), where defense analyst Pavel Felgenhauer systematically destroys American Democrats’ comparisons of Iraq to Vietnam. He prefers instead to liken us to the British in the Sudan, but puts forth a key question: ”Will the Bush administration — or the Democrats, should they win the White House in November — prove better, kinder rulers of the world than the British Liberals and Tories of a century ago?” Imperialism assumptions aside, his question of the message we send to the world through our conduct in the Middle East is one we have to consider.
13 April 2004 / 0 Comments / Tags: politics