Apparently there is a Horrible Conspiracy™ behind the war on Saddam Hussein -- to bring democracy to the entire Middle East. I'm not kidding -- a fellow named Josh Marshall thinks this way. Wunderkinder has all the links. Quite frankly I was unaware that there was any other reason to even bother with the Middle East in the fashion that we have. If we simply wanted revenge for all the terrorist attacks against us and/or to impress the world with the mightiness of our arsenal, we would have flattened the area with a few nukes. But we aren't that kind of hegemonical empire. No -- apparently we are something worse: a nation that actually means to improve the human condition outside of its borders. Fiendish!
(Via Instapundit.)
Posted by Andrea Harris at April 22, 2003 10:47 AMEvery time this story catches me a glancing blow I'm left scratching my head. Thank you for putting it so simply that I realize that I am not alone in wondering what Marshall is smoking.
Next thing you know, we'll be told that there was a deep dark conspiracy within the Kenedy Administration to put a man on the moon!
Posted by: Mac at April 22, 2003 at 11:06 AMIt strikes me that Marshall's not alone--a lefty friend of mine and I were "discussing" the war, and when I said basically that the whole point was to remake and democratize the ME he got all shocked and awed on me.
I mean, Helllooooooo! Am I the only one who got the memo? Does that mean that I'm leading some super-secret Cabal?
Cool!
Posted by: Tracey at April 22, 2003 at 01:08 PMDr. Thomas P.M. Barnett, Director, New Rules Set Project, Naval War College.
http://www.nwc.navy.mil/newrulesets/
Note the graphic at the top of the page and then scroll down to The Pentagon's New Map for the executive summary.
Read the rest when you have the time.
Posted by: Fred Boness at April 22, 2003 at 02:13 PMIf there isn't a "conspiracy" to democratize the Middle East, there damned well should be! Democracies don't make war or commit acts of terror against one another, nor do they routinely torture their subjects or wield weapons of mass destruction against them.
If the Left has a problem with democracy, it's come to the ultimate absurdist's end to its journey into irrationality.
Posted by: Francis W. Porretto at April 22, 2003 at 05:47 PMI like the idea of a conspiracy to bring democracy to the Middle East. After all, according to the left we are only there for the oil. That's right, we are only there for the oil; we are going to go through all this for a country that supplies us with about 5% of our oil imports. If only we could make the Left look at facts and truth and then put them together!
Posted by: BillH at April 23, 2003 at 01:39 AMLet me see if I understand what we're being told is happening. There's this vast diabolical conspiracy to, first, establish a nation where people can be free, prosperous and happy, and then to promote its ideals so that people all over the world can be free, prosperous and happy.
Those bastards!
Posted by: Kevin McGehee at April 23, 2003 at 08:33 AM