Politics: Blundering Bush

The problems in the Middle East just refuse to go away...in fact they are steadily getting worse. Iran will soon be among the handful of nations with a nuclear strike capability. The United States, and most of the worlds' governments, are greatly concerned about the future ramifications of this unfortunate, but inevitable, event. Iran, in order to avoid possible sanctions, and perhaps military actions, against them, have recently displayed a willingness to hold talks with European and American governments concerning the issue of their nuclear ambitions. The United States has stubbornly refused to enter into talks with the Iranian government. This, in my view, is a mistake that will almost certainly lead to confrontation.

The United States' invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq have done little more than forment civil wars in both those countries. Warlords and religious and political factions are fighting among themselves to fill the vacuum left by the downfall of the respective totalitarian regimes in those unfortunate countries. At the same time the Western occupiers of both those countries have come under fire not just from the warring factions but from the majority of the civil populations as well. The promised democratic governments, put in place and supported by the occupiers, have yet to function competently and convincingly in the face of constant and unrelenting opposition.

The hearts and minds of the common people have been disappointed by their new governments and their foreign supporters. In Afghanistan the people are still suffering from unequaled poverty and a complete lack of infrastructure, despite the huge amount of money that has been provided in aid. The prospect of unending war and oppression, and the belief that they will be forgotten by the Americans as soon as it becomes politically unpalatable to the American public to sustain their war efforts, leaves the people of Afghanistan unsure and afraid. Many are wishing that the Taliban would return, not because they were acceptable to the majority, but because they at least offered a measure of security.

In Iraq the occupiers are fast losing the hearts and minds of the common people. Daily reports of massacres and abuses by the American and British troops have led to civil unrest. This unrest has prompted the prime minister of Iraq to respond with promises (or threats) of using "Maximum Force" with an "Iron Fist" against the rioters and militias that abound there. Militias in the southern area surrounding Basra, the oil rich city that provides most of Iraq's' revenues, are fighting for supremacy there and control of the vital resources.

Rather than stabilizing the Middle East, the Bush administration, and its' supporters, has succeeded only in creating chaos and the prospect for unending conflict in that region. They have blundered in Afghanistan and Iraq...and seem intent on continuing that blundering into Iran.

And the war goes on...and on...and on.