A column appeared 02 March in the Lexington Herald-Leader by guest columnist Kimberly M. HayDen. Parts of it are excerpted below, with some italicized/color remarks.
I'd like to personally thank President Bush for insisting on Western-style democracy in the Middle East. Now Hamas is in control of the Palestinian Authority, and the United States gets the smug satisfaction of refusing to deal with Hamas even though it is a democratically elected political party. It has been made abundantly clear that the government will be recognized whenever it recognizes Israel as a state, just as Egypt has, for instance. This country gives a significant amount of U.S. taxpayer money to Egypt annually and has official relations with other Middle East nations.
The people have spoken, and we don't like it. Of course we don’t like it. Hamas is fueled by people such as the woman well publicized in the media recently (you may have noticed) who sent three of her sons to their homicides/suicides and is ready to send three more in order to kill people who just happen to be eating dinner in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was elected to a seat in the new Hamas government. Thankfully, you don’t like it. More’s the pity toward anyone who does.
It would be no surprise if war with Iran were next on Bush's agenda. The administration certainly seems hellbent on creating an atmosphere of fear that would justify military action. Iran is more than likely years away from having the ability to create nuclear weapons, but that won't deter our fearless leader. Perhaps you consider yourself more astute than the experts who appear in the media consistently to say that Iran is CLOSE to establishing the nuclear-bomb threat. The Europeans have been negotiating with Iran for at least two years and are as responsible as this country, not to mention the Irani idiots, for any fear. It may become necessary to neutralize the Iranis, since the current leader has publicly insisted that he intends to wipe out Israel with the bomb. He would not stop there. The only people Muslims love to kill more than Americans are other Muslims. Saddam meant to take the whole Arabian Peninsula, but was stopped in Kuwait, you may remember, by Bush 41. As for Bush’s agenda, it has already been well documented that the military option is on the table.
Even if he attempts some sort of diplomatic -- oh, never mind. That would never happen. Diplomacy has been underway for years, in case you haven’t noticed. Currently, the administration has been and is letting the Europeans carry the water. If he can't get support for invading Iran, he'll do it anyway. He will have no problem getting support, just as he gained support for the actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Americans with walking-around-sense understand the threat driven by Islamic militants, and whole governments are driven by those fanatics.Maybe he'll let Israel start the war for him. Israel will do as it pleases, just as it did in 1981 when it wiped out Saddam’s nuclear facility in one afternoon with one loss of life, thus saving Israel and perhaps the whole Middle East. Or perhaps he'll just continue to antagonize Iran until its leaders figure they have nothing else to lose and bomb Israel, which Iranian leaders are itching to do. That should get the party started. Bush has not antagonized Iran. He has merely spoken truth. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has stated flatly that he is “itching” to get it on, as you say, and only this country stands in the way.
The Middle East is so inflamed and approaching anarchy that it is just a matter of time before the whole place explodes. Well said. In fact, the Middle East has always been inflamed and always either in anarchy or on its way there. If people there can riot over some cartoons, imagine what they would do if they really get mad. Yes, just imagine! Over here, a degrading cartoon of Christ or God is expected somewhere on a practically daily basis. No one goes down to the local mall and begins killing people because of that. That should tell you why it is important to neutralize Iran or any nation with the “cartoon mentality.”
The deal for a United Arab Emirates company to take over several U.S. ports sounds like a great idea. Putting a country with ties to extremist and terrorist groups in charge -- marvelous. You are terribly ill-informed if you believe a UAE company is taking over anything. Keep watching the news and perhaps you will understand the facts concerning the ports. If you continue to speak without knowing the facts, people will snicker.
And isn't the Iraq war going just smashingly? It's amazing that Americans continue to support this horrible fiasco. You probably wouldn’t remember, but Americans supported WW I and II (1917-18, 1941-45) when an average of 320 GIs died every single day through 4.5 solid years of actual combat. The deaths in the current conflict amount to one weeks’s total in those wars. Americans supported some eight or so years of the Vietnam Conflict (1964-72, approx.) when an average of 20 per day died and the Korean Conflict (1950-53) when an average of 34 died per day. Never sell Americans short when it comes to protecting their turf. I just don't understand why the average American citizen isn't more upset about the way things are going. Nothing is getting better; everything is getting worse. You don’t understand, especially in light of the above, simply because you don’t intend to understand or simply haven’t the gravitas for using facts to create understanding.
Everybody got all worked up about former President Bill Clinton's sex life. But why was making whoopee with some chubby chick more horrible than being responsible for the deaths of thousands? It was while Bill Clinton was making whoopee enjoying his sex life with some chubby chick that the current situation developed and eventuated in the deaths of thousands. Remember 9/11. Go back and read the histories of the 90s and maybe you’ll understand. Some keywords: WTC-93; Khobar Towers; USS Cole; Kenyan embassy; Tanzanian embassy; Sudan; Somalia.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
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