The AP Discovers the Bush Doctrine, Pronounces It Desireable
I’d like to formally welcome the Associated Press to 2002. See, when we went into Iraq to topple the despicable Saddam Hussein, one of the things President Bush was saying building a stable Iraq was something that was squarely within our national interest, insofar as a stable Arab democracy would exert a huge amount of positive influence over the Middle East.
He got laughed at for that. The MSM derided him for living in a fantasy land. Now, the AP has suddenly discovered that he wasn’t so crazy after all.
The role of regional power broker may seem far-fetched for Iraq — a devastated land best known for car bombs, death squads and suicide attackers.
Still, countries of the Middle East cannot ignore the potential role of a resurgent Iraq, a nation of 28 million people, bordering Iran to the east, Syria and Jordan to the west and sitting on one of the world’s major pools of oil.
For those reasons, the United States cannot afford to lose focus on Iraq, which will remain a strategic and important country even after the last of the 140,000 American soldiers have gone home.
Clearly Iraq is a long way from re-establishing itself as a major force in the region. In a first step, however, representatives of 35 international oil companies are to meet this month with Iraq’s oil minister in London to discuss improving Iraqi gas and oil fields. Fellow Arab countries are talking about upgrading their relations with Iraq.
…
However unlikely it may seem today, a relatively stable Iraq would have all the cards necessary to emerge as a major player in the Persian Gulf, where Saudi Arabia and Iran are competing for leadership.
What the AP doesn’t say, and wouldn’t say even under duress, is that this is almost exactly what President Bush was saying six years ago. It is, contrary to what Charles Gibson may believe, the very heart of the Bush Doctrine in the Middle East. We punish tyrants and reward liberal democratic reforms because liberal democracies don’t export Islamism, don’t crush gay people under walls, don’t stone teenaged girls for fighting back against rape, and don’t destabilize the countries around them. They do create stability around them.
The latter point ought to warm the cockles of every realpolitik lover’s heart, even if it doesn’t include the also-beloved component of sucking up to tyrants.
Other Posts of Interest:
- The Washington Post Can’t Imagine Why Democrats Oppose a US/Iraq Alliance
- Mission Accomplished…Again
- Abandoning the Women of Pakistan
Category: Alliances and Allies, Fighting the Islamists, Oh, THAT liberal media.
