The American Conservative
by Scott McConnell

[A]s a Philippine government official put it, 'It's so heartbreaking to see how helpless America has become. You're not strong any more. You can't even save your own countrymen and there you are, out there trying to control the world.' Such statements don't come configured with neo-Marxian accoutrements about hegemony and imperialism -- they are, rather like the child's response to the emperor's new clothes, a conclusion drawn from obvious visual evidence. Variations of this reaction swept the globe in the early days of September, at the beginning of Osama bin Laden's second term. The underlying cause of this turnabout in world thinking was America's inability to tame the Iraq insurgency, two and half years after George W. Bush initiated a war of choice against Saddam. That war is not yet over for American troops or the Iraqis, but its basic strategic outcome is clear: as a vehicle for transforming the political culture of the Arab world in a pro-American direction, it is an utter failure... (for publication 10/10/05)

http://www.amconmag.com/2005/2005_10_10/article1.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp