Interesting article re: the blind spots in the left's reaction to Iraq, the War on Terror

[pegkerr]

Gacked from Arts & Letters Daily:

Much of the left’s opposition to the Iraq war and the Bush administration’s anti-terror campaigns – voiced by figures like Tariq Ali, Robert Fisk, George Galloway, Naomi Klein, and John Pilger – has blinded it to the need to engage with real problems and threats, says Sasha Abramsky.

This makes a lot of sense to me. I have been uneasy about the knee-jerk reactions of progressive thinkers to much of what Bush is doing, and I don't think we have much of a chance of winning elections until we suss out a more useful approach to Iraq than "Declare it's all the West's fault because we're screw ups and go home." This article has helped focus much of my inchoate thoughts on the nature of the problem. It is disappointingly short, though, on solutions.

Comments

[darkthirty.livejournal.com]

I guess the real question is whether this regime is in the process of creating future, potentially even more destructive, enemies and wars, over some very questionable "policies". Besides, at the heart of the article is a singular reluctance to find malice anywhere aside from radical islam. Also, the left in the US, from what I see, wants deep, fundamental change in the structure of the country. This is something that cannot be talked about without sidelining everything else - unfortunately.

The "kneejerk" reaction identifies the case that the present regime IS creating new enemies and future wars. The article sadly misses this point, in my opinion.