Conservatively Speaking
I don't usually hang out at the American Conservative web site but I went over there recently and read an article by Paul Schroeder entitled "The War Bin Laden Wanted: How the U.S. played into the terrorist's plan." I was startled to read, in his concluding paragraph:
This is a change only a new administration could make, though obviously not during the electoral campaign, when it would be suicidal. Once in office, however, it could claim that it had found things to be even worse than it knew and could make the kind of 180-degree turn Bush executed after his election. A gradual disengagement from Iraq and re-concentration on Afghanistan and Pakistan in the pursuit of al-Qaeda, a devolution of tasks onto the UN and NATO on the grounds that even the best meant efforts of the United States are frustrated by the fact that it is seen as the enemy by too many in the region, a willingness to admit past mistakes and agree to focus co-operatively on other problems as well-all this would become possible, though not easy, if only the current American war mentality and psyche gave way to a saner one. This still could happen-but of course not under Bush.
Please go and read the entire article because it lays out a compelling vision of why Osama bin Laden attacked the US and how the Bush administration fell directly into the trap set by bin Laden.
But more importantly, it makes the case that in order to correct our policy mistakes, a new administration will need to be elected. I will let that lay as it is and let you draw your own conclusions. But remember, this is coming from the American Conservative, not Kerry headquarters.
What is even more startling to me is that conservatives have, apparently, finally realized that the Bush administration may be a lot of things, but conservative it is not. Yes, President Bush pays lip service to conservative issues, but what the Bush administration actually does is as radical, in their own way, as anything coming out of Berkeley.
I've noted before how the Bush administration has expanded federal powers by taking it from states (e.g., elections, marriage, education reform, health care, etc.). I've noted before how this administration (and the Republican controlled Congress) have been on a spending spree the likes of which we have not seen since President Johnson during the Vietnam War. And I've noted how this administration has plowed full ahead into expansionist wars across the globe.
So I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see real conservatives finally disavowing themselves from the Bush presidency. Unfortunately, I think it's too little too late.