The paradoxes of the Bush presidency
Christian Science Monitor
by Pat M. Holt
09/07/06
In the first presidential debate of 2000, George W. Bush emphasized his military restraint. 'I would be very careful about using our troops as nation builders. I believe the role of the military is to fight and win war and therefore prevent war from happening,' he said. That view changed greatly after Sept. 11, when he proclaimed a policy of spreading democracy throughout the world -- even, evidently, if it requires US troops to act as nation builders. The part of the world where he chose to start that campaign, however, was one of the areas least attuned to it by culture and history. This is just one of the many paradoxes that mark Mr. Bush's presidency. Another paradox is that, in the name of spreading democracy abroad, Bush is doing things that tend to destroy it at home. One of the first acts of a scared, compliant Congress after 9/11 was to pass the misnamed USA Patriot Act...
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0907/p09s01-coop.html
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
by Pat M. Holt
09/07/06
In the first presidential debate of 2000, George W. Bush emphasized his military restraint. 'I would be very careful about using our troops as nation builders. I believe the role of the military is to fight and win war and therefore prevent war from happening,' he said. That view changed greatly after Sept. 11, when he proclaimed a policy of spreading democracy throughout the world -- even, evidently, if it requires US troops to act as nation builders. The part of the world where he chose to start that campaign, however, was one of the areas least attuned to it by culture and history. This is just one of the many paradoxes that mark Mr. Bush's presidency. Another paradox is that, in the name of spreading democracy abroad, Bush is doing things that tend to destroy it at home. One of the first acts of a scared, compliant Congress after 9/11 was to pass the misnamed USA Patriot Act...
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0907/p09s01-coop.html
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
rudkla - 8. Sep, 15:21
