DEFEAT
[By Junkie]
Bob Copeland cogently surveys the decline of American power in international affairs in TPJ’s Bush Watch today in “SPENT.” It is a must read as it is a clear outline of the destruction of US power and prestige in the international community that has resulted from malignant neoconservative dogma.
Copeland’s lucid article is the backdrop of an even more specific possibility. Saudi King Abdullah’s cancellation of lunch plans with Bush at the White House could be the signal that Bush’s neoconservatives have admitted defeat in Iraq.
One suspects that given the historic common interests of Saudi Arabia and the United States, both as to oil and the balance of power in the region, King Abdullah’s correct labeling of the US intervention in the Iraqi civil war as an “occupation” and “illegal” was not publicly stated without advance consultation with the White House. Perhaps the best circumstantial evidence of that assertion is the distinct silence of the White House following King Abdullah’s profound departure from US policy.
Two possibilities are suggested. One, King Abdullah’s public statement represents the conclusion of the Saudi government that Bush has lost the war in Iraq and Saudi Arabia is breaking with the US and will act independently of Bush to protect its interests in the region. This logic is quickly becoming the accepted view of what has happened.
The second and more intriguing possibility, however, is that Bush is actually calling on a traditional American partner in the region to step in as the Bush administration acknowledges defeat. If viewed as the puppet of the American government, Saudi Arabia’s potential to establish itself as the prime source of power in the region would be diminished. By expressing the anti-American sentiments of millions of Arabs towards the United States, King Abdullah may be adroitly positioning Saudi Arabia to take the center stage in fashioning a new balance of power in the region and as the only viable foil to the power and influence of Iran.
Both possibilities conclude with the same damning result, Republican neoconservatives have burned down the store of American power and prestige as Copeland’s survey so clearly highlights. The only question is whether the United States can salvage some degree of influence in the region by having the Saudis stand up as Bush stands down.
It is not simply a matter that neoconservative policy has failed; disastrous enough it in its own right. Republican neoconservatives have decimated American’s financial wealth, created a growing economic superpower in China with a concomitant rise in international power, essentially abandoned US involvement in Latin America and left America with few true allies across the globe. Republican neoconservatives have squandered two centuries of international respect built by Republican and Democratic Party administrations.
If Americans want to right the perilous course in which Republicans currently lead this nation, there is but one resolution: elect Democrats.
Last Update: 04/15/2007