Isolation and Warmongering

How come the right won't call the Bush administration what they are?

Warmongers.

As I posted yesterday, the White House (specifically Cheney) are using the exact same pro-war rhetoric toward Iran they used about Iraq in 2002. Iran, not surprisingly, countered with rhetoric of their own, swearing that they would cause us 'harm and pain'. Scott McClellan reacted to this by stating, supposedly with a straight face, "I think that provocative statements and actions only further isolate [them] from the rest of the world."

If the White House wants to discuss isolation, perhaps it should look in the mirror and see what it has done to our standing in the world. When the President traveled to Pakistan, it was no coincidence that Air Force One landed at night under cover of darkness. Nobody in this world, save for Tony Blair, sees the United States as a force for peace any longer. We are bullies, making demands of our enemies, but refusing to cooperate with them, and then acting angered and confused when they react in a hostile manner. Has there ever been an administration with this great a predilection toward military action over diplomacy?

Had we ignored the non-threat that was Iraq, we could've kept our military resources focused on Al Qeada and simultaneously begun diplomatic relations with Iran in 2002... which was, of course, before the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Done right, we could've made great progress by 2006. But the White House never made any real diplomatic efforts. With Iraq, they at least bothered with the pretense of diplomacy. And after the historical bungling of Iraq by this administration, the fact that anyone in this country would let them even discuss the possibility of another preemptive war is, almost literally, insane. Our military is broke and depleted and this administration has proved it cannot competently do much of anything, let alone engage in war.

And when was the last time we had serious talks with North Korea? That's a whole other mess.

Finally, Lew Rockwell had this interesting summary of reformed (?) neocon Christopher Hitchens being interviewed on yesterday's 'Hardball'-

Last night, on Iran, [Matthews] was using the Republican talking points, including the weasel phrase "nuclear program" intended to blur the difference between atomic bombs and atomic power. Then Christopher Hitchens, of all people, argued for detente.

He called on Bush to fly to Teheran to make peace, in a reprise of Nixon in China. The fun part was watching Matthews' mug: horrified, incredulous, outraged. How dare anyone suggest our genghis-in-chief be anything but a killer? Let all others crawl to the hegemon and beg for his mercy.

But... but.... then we wouldn't get our war! Waaaahhhhh!

It's an odd day in America when Christopher Hitchens is the sensible one.