The Fog of War-Think
This effort will help bolster forces of moderation and support a broader strategy to counter the negative influences of Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran.
—Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
“Bolster the forces of moderation” in the Middle East — sounds good. How do we plan to do it? By sending $63 billion in advanced weapons to Israel ($30B), Egypt ($13B), and Saudi Arabia ($20B).
Only minds befogged with war-think (and war-profiteering) could imagine a massive input of killing machines into a region seething with ancient hostilities and current crises as a moderating influence. But, since I’m doing my best to avoid Bush-hate these days, let’s give this new plan the benefit of the doubt. In fact, let’s emulate it!
How about bolstering the forces of moderation in your local high school by sending large quantities of beer and condoms?
Or bolstering the forces of moderation at rock concerts with shipments of pot and ecstasy?
Let’s bolster the forces of moderation in the Congress with large contributions from extremely partisan special interest groups (oops, already doing that one).
Maybe we could bolster a moderation in CEO salaries by granting them huge severance packages even when they totally screw up their companies (ditto).
Better yet: let’s bolster the forces of moderation in America by impeaching the whole Bush-Cheney gang of immoderate tools.