Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Condoleezza Rice - Mendacity and Hubris

I would use the word hubris to describe Condoleezza Rice's pronouncement that "Military power...is not the way to deal in the 21st century" , but I am afraid it's too mild. I tossed around "hypocrite", but that just seemed a bit stale. After all almost everything the Bush administration rails against the do. Remember "we don't torture"?

Finally I settled on the favorite word of the character Big Daddy in Tennessee William's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, "mendacity". For the Secretary of State, of our country to denounce military action as a solution in the 21st Century is about as mendacious a statement as I can think of. It's just a plain bald faced lie.

I guess Ms. Rice forgot the whole Iraq thing, or Afghanistan, both of which were wars we started in the 21st Century. The Bush administration knows little about diplomacy that does not involve guns and bombs. The whole talking thing is just so 1900's!

Had we sought a diplomatic solution to Bush's problem with Sadaam. Iraq would still have a power grid and running water. We would have 4000+ American soldiers still at home and alive and thousands of Iraqi civilians would still enjoy the pleasures of going to work and raising their families without fear of sjuidide bombers and IEDs.

Oh yea, and then there is that guy, Osama Bin Laden. Maybe, just maybe we could have used our military to go after him had diplomacy not worked with the Taliban. We really never gave it a chance.

So now Ms. Rice condemns Russia for behaving like us. Invade first and ask questions later.

I am reminded of the time that seems so liong ago when Bush said he had looked into Putin's soul and found a kindred spirit. Yup, he sure did!

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