Safire Column On Nixon Dealing With Iraq, Al Qaeda

Sounds like a plan.


http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,340008345,00.html

They deserve a nice prize. Definately our biggest ally in the Middle East. Saw their Prime Minister with Powell a couple of weeks ago. No wavering whatsoever. Been to Incirlik myself, cheap leather, gold. Had a field day shopping! lol In between donning my gas mask due to Iraqi Scud warnings, not a bad place to visit!!!!


that is all,


dannyboy :o)

The above response refers to Turkey.


that is all,


dannyboy

Nixon, in retirement, tried to foster an image of himself as a brilliant elder statesman. Safire apparently buys this, or should I say, sells it. In reality, Richard Nixon, aside from being a racist, anti-semitic, patholigcal liar and a crook, as well as a war criminal and wife beater, was an idiot. Read his books. Any of them. Six Crises or No More Vietnams. No knowledge of history, no insight whatsoever. The man did more damage to the United States than any other American in the 20th century. To invoke his name as someone who would offer sage advice in the current situation would be laughable were it not so sad.


On a lighter note, I saw Safire speak once and he told the funniest (and only) lexicographer joke I've heard. Noah Webster, of dictionary fame, was working late one night with his secretary when his wife unexpectedly came into the room. At that moment, Webster's secretary was sitting on his lap.


"Why, Noah," said his wife, "I'm surprised."


"No, my dear," said Webster, "you are astonished. We are surprised."

..much, much worse. Remember the definition of evil from Atlas Shrugged? A grubby little bureacrat slouched in the corner whimpering, "I couldn't help it!"? That's our boy. See the current issue of Newsweek.


And whether or not Dick was a moron or not, I still think helping Turkey slice up Iraq sounds more promising than "reaching out to moderate Muslims" & "coalition building". After all, U.S. soldiers cutting the flags off their uniforms during the Gulf War so as not to 'offend' the Saudis sure didn't have much long term benefit..

I recall my mother talking about Nixon. She thought he was very shrewd, but she didn't trust him an inch--she believed he was a crook long before the Watergate scandal. She also told me he was a very good poker player when he was in the military and that he won considerable money during his years in the service, once pulling off a huge bluff with a mere pair of deuces in draw poker.


I was too young to really follow a lot of what was going on during those times. One of my best friends who actually did follow things then considered Nixon's approach to China brilliant.

Turkey carries zero legitimacy within the islamic world. Perhaps even below zero. Turkish politicians are sometimes misled into thinking they can be involved in the "muslim world's affairs", only to be shaken back to reality when they participate in a Muslim conference. The reason is that the Turkish government has carried extensive anti-muslim legislation and measures in the last decades, which go against anything elementary democratic. (For instance, the legislation forbids women who wish to, from wearing the muslim garment which hides the lower part of the face. It is unthinkable in any democratic country to impose proper dress codes on its citizens!)


So far, the Turkish National Security Council has outlawed twice the mainstream muslim party, under various pretexts. The real reason is that they were doing well in local and national elections. The West is backing those actions covertly but enthusiastically, as it has in Algeria.


Moreover, Turkey is a historical enemy of the Arab nation, with which it still has unresolved territorial disputes (e.g. with Syria). And it has enraged the Arabs even more through the agreements with Israel on military and intellignece co-operation between the two nations, standard bearers of liberty and justice both...


There is a reason that a muslim party can be popular in Turkey, a country which is officially ultra-nationalistic rather than religious, and whose foundations are strictly secular, as dictated by "the father of the nation", Kemal Attaturk. The reason is that the Turkish army and security forces, the real power in Turkey, have violently persecuted any party or group that dared to be even left of center, throughout the years of Cold War. It was a permanent situation since 1950, like what we saw with the Argentine dictatorship and the thousands of dissidents who kept "disappearing", with the difference that a Parliament was functioning.


The persecution of the Left resulted in the popular unrest, discontent and protest having no legitimate leftist outlet, as in all democracies, for their political and economic grievances. The millions of the poor and the neglected and the marginalised found the muslim parties to be the only ones which could give voice to their frustration.


A scenario that has been replayed throughout a lot of Third World countries and whose fruits we have only now began to harvest...


--Cyrus