I'm Just Askin'....

If the US had not struck a Faustian bargain with Hosni Mubarak (to not go to war with Israel) and thereby sanctioning a dictatorial regime which (among other failings) strangled opportunity, would there have still been a Mohamed Atta?  And, if there were no Mohamed Atta would there have been a September 11th?  And, if there had been no September 11th would the US have invaded Afghanistan, and then Iraq?

Special Place in Hell, 2nd Edition

Let me add to the honor roll, Leslie Gelb.  And how could we forget the unforgettable, motor-mouthing, shit-talker extraordinaire, Condoleeza Rice?
 

Surely There Are Special Places in Hell

for Henry Kissinger, Hillary Clinton, Jeanne Kilpatrick, Elliott Abrams, Martin Peretz, Tony Blair (who is certifiably barkin' mad) and the rest of the day-old fish called the punditry, the intelligentsia, the Western diplo-political elite who view Egypt's revolution primarily through the prism of realpolitik and "America's interest" and "strategic alliances" and "cold peace with Israel" and the list goes on of those who easily ignore the human suffering and dignity that all the above costs.  (If I link to some of their recent statements my head will explode which might not be a bad idea if it melts some ice, but still ...).

Egypt and Clinton had already been co-joined for me.  Below is an excerpt from a letter to Rita Parker, a friend who lived for several years in Lebanon:

13 March 2008

Mark and I went to Egypt for the first 15 days of September last year.  The genesis of the trip was a conversation with my friend, Fred, who had traveled there a few years prior and had a great time.  Almost 2 years ago Fred was diagnosed with Stage III colon cancer, and one day when we were talking I said wistfully, “Well, after you get through this cancer, why don’t we go to Egypt in 5 years?”

Fred, who is nothing if not assertive replied, “Why don’t we go next year?”  And that started it.  ...  In the meantime, Dailey piped up and said that she really, really wanted to go and so the 3 of us were trying to organize a trip.  ...[s] he couldn’t go until January 2008.  So while the family went to Egypt we did it in 2 legs.

[…] Mark is an experienced traveler – he lived in India, Germany, and southern France – and has trekked many other places in addition to driving through parts of the US.  He’s a great and patient companion on these trips.  We had a fantastic time both partaking of Egypt’s “greatest hits” and of the lives of contemporary Egyptians.

One of the seminal and bittersweet moments was on a trip to Alexandria.  The driver had worked for King Faisal (?) and went to Beverly Hills with him serving as a chauffeur.  He told us that he had been encouraged to get his green card but declined because he wanted to go back home.  (I can’t recollect the chronology, but my guess is that this happened after Nasser’s presidency.)  Considering what life is like for Egyptians today, he rued having made that decision.  He told us, and probably because we were in a van driving as opposed to sitting in a café, that if it weren’t prohibited in the Koran “all Egyptians would kill themselves…”

This was my first trip to an authoritarian country.  I should mention that I loved the country, absolutely loved it and made at least 1 friend there.  Of course there was a kind of kinship with the Egyptians.  (Although it was a hustler’s line “… welcome, my cousin” when we went shopping, I was still happy to hear it.  Having grown up in the US, especially the Midwest, it’s rare that I’ve lived somewhere were I felt at home.  That’s why New York City is my spiritual home.)  I’ve always been annoyed when American leftists talk about this nation as authoritarian.  Yes, there are definite elements of it, and particularly during the reign of Bush and Cheney we fearful Americans have submitted to government oversight like never before, yet we are far and away from being in the state of an Egypt.  One of the first impressions I got as I saw all the young men out is that Cairo resembles inner-city New York.  (I could probably say that of any American city where a great percentage of it’s young, able-bodied males are idle during the day.)  There was a familiarity I felt seeing the young men:  That crushing idleness co-joined with the presence of several kinds of police; the systemic corruption that squelches initiative.  Added to that is a Muslim culture that constrains and frustrates young people’s mating and forces them to delay marriage.  All those things lead to despair.  When a nation’s youth are in despair, I feel that a country cannot and will not grow.  The next generation feels defeated even before they have grappled with leadership.

[…] Years ago I said to friends that while I had no qualms about voting for Hillary Clinton as a senator (and I have twice) I would not vote for her as President.  I wasn’t able to articulate why thoroughly, and I doubt if I was even asked.  Lately, out of obvious necessity, I’ve had to flesh out my objection to her as a president.  My first answer is that both Clintons have a kind of amorality that is a necessary component of ambitious, driven and smart people.  (Necessary for “getting ahead”.)  That leads to a more elastic ethics, and over and over again I think I’ve seen that in the decisions that she’s made as a public figure.  (When people are being neutral about that trait, they call it “caution”.)  But, I disagree.  I’m a cautious person, and try to be prudent and thoughtful when making an important decision.  I can also examine and to some degree, understand the other side of an argument.  What I cannot do is throw my principles or values “under the bus” in order to curry influence, or to score a tactical victory.  And yes, since I can’t I’ll never get far in politics or corporate culture; but, I don’t pretend otherwise.  Hillary Clinton has – in the sense that she has rationalized decisions that are in conflict with professed values and acts as if there is no dissonance.  It’s that characteristic that’s at the root of what has and always will disturb me about her.  Secondly, and this is related to how I perceive her style of leadership, she, like many of our most recent presidents seem to subscribe to an executive style of management, where top-down leadership is the only legitimate leadership.  That, along with fear-mongering, has helped make the citizen body flaccid.  Mark, whose love of America is that idealistic love that immigrants who came here voluntarily as adults have, is so concerned about this country.  How all the initiative and belief in our ability to fix our problems seems to have been washed down the drain.  Hillary Clinton, as admirable as she is in many ways, does not inspire as a leader.  And, at this stage in my life, I’ve already had 1 boss too many.

I once said to to someone that the only thing that is greater than man's capacity for cruelty, is his capacity for rationalization. Now I'll add that a prerequisite to lusting for great power is an outsize capacity for amorality.