The George Principle
The Peter Principle says that people rise to the level of their own incompetence. The George Principle says that voters raise their leaders to above the level of their own incompetence.
I am very pessimistic about the Middle East. The only army that could contain the violence is not up to the job---the US Army. In fact I think that it could crack. It is a volunteer force and hardly likely to take on 5 million people in Iraq who want them out. And when real violence starts US guys may sensibly run. Or real mayhem and murderous retaliation by the US may ensue.
As to Lebanon it is touch and go whether the Israelis can do the job without resorting to mass murder. Arabs could spill over from Gaza into Israel while suicide types could come down from Lebanon. What good is an F-15 against a straggling group of volunteers.
If this is not the big blow up, we are getting closer to it and the US, with its volunteer force, can only get really violent or pull out.
The absurd idea that a force of outsiders should precede a cease fire fits into the neat Bush way of doing things: get someone else to do his bidding of the dangerous work. This time it is not his own army that he wants to mistakenly put at risk of death, it is foreign troops.
Believe me they won't do it.
I am very pessimistic about the Middle East. The only army that could contain the violence is not up to the job---the US Army. In fact I think that it could crack. It is a volunteer force and hardly likely to take on 5 million people in Iraq who want them out. And when real violence starts US guys may sensibly run. Or real mayhem and murderous retaliation by the US may ensue.
As to Lebanon it is touch and go whether the Israelis can do the job without resorting to mass murder. Arabs could spill over from Gaza into Israel while suicide types could come down from Lebanon. What good is an F-15 against a straggling group of volunteers.
If this is not the big blow up, we are getting closer to it and the US, with its volunteer force, can only get really violent or pull out.
The absurd idea that a force of outsiders should precede a cease fire fits into the neat Bush way of doing things: get someone else to do his bidding of the dangerous work. This time it is not his own army that he wants to mistakenly put at risk of death, it is foreign troops.
Believe me they won't do it.
Posted at 8/06/2006 01:36:00 AM UTC
Permanent Link
0 Comment(s):
Post a Comment
All comments are welcome, however, rather than posting an Anonymous comment please consider selecting Other and providing your name or nickname so others know who you are. Thanks.