I’m only half finished reading this morning’s New York Times and I’ve already had to endure articles on Lebanon,
Iran, and Afghanistan that show just how severely the Bush administration’s policies have failed American interests. It’s really quite remarkable. In Afghanistan, President Karzai’s support is cratering among the people, the Taliban is resurgent, and corruption is rampant. Here’s a typical quote:
An opposition politician, Abdul Latif Pedram, said: “There has never been so much corruption in the country. We have a mafia economy and a drug economy.”
Meanwhile, in Lebanon, relief agencies are struggling to find a way to provide relief without violating the American prohibition on having contact with Hizbollah. Here’s a sample:
While the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has just begun organizing committees to study the reconstruction of the country, Construction Jihad [Hizbollah] has all but completed surveys of southern Lebanese towns.
“We were victorious over Israel,” said Mr. Bazzi. “Now we have to rise to the occasion that follows.”
Teams of volunteers wearing Construction Jihad baseball caps have crisscrossed Bint Jbail and other southern cities. On Monday, the organization began signing up families for grants of between $10,000 and $15,000 to help cover rent and furnishings until new homes are built, and began helping small businesses reopen. They have worked to help restore electricity in many towns and to get water flowing again.
“We consider this work to be like prayer and fasting,” said Fouad Noureldine, director of projects in southern Lebanon for Construction Jihad.
Some of the organization’s volunteers in Bint Jbail said Construction Jihad was in control of billions of dollars for the reconstruction, but Mr. Noureldine would not give a figure. He did say that much of the organization’s money has come from wealthy Lebanese donors in Africa, Latin America and the United States, though Iran is widely believed to have contributed a significant amount.
“We will not wait for the government to do anything down here; we will do it all ourselves while they are still just talking,” Mr. Noureldine said. “In fact, we’re happy the government is late to do anything. They are trying to divide the resistance and the people. The longer they wait to deliver any services, the more they will fail.”
Mr. Noureldine also dismissed the Bush administration’s pledge of $230 million in reconstruction aid. “If they were to give us all the money in the world, we would not take it,” Mr. Noureldine said. “They will not be able to buy our hearts. We are receiving billions now through our traditional channels. We don’t need American money.”
Maybe we should save that $230 million for Louisiana and Mississippi. It doesn’t look like it is going to turn things around in southern Lebanon. And maybe, just maybe, we can start dealing with Hizbollah as something a bit more sophisticated than a group of terrorists? Ah…fuck it…never mind. That’s too complicated to sort out in the brain. Just kill ’em all…
All of this is, of course, crippling the administration’s ability to deal with Iran. The latest concern? Our fiasco in Lebanon has done gone and pissed off little nations.
That will not be easy, in part because the entire United Nations Security Council is supposed to vote on the sanctions package. While only the permanent members can veto, the rising fear, particularly among European diplomats, is that smaller countries on the Council are so angry over how the United States, and now France, have handled the Lebanon crisis that they will give Russia and China political cover to balk against imposing tough sanctions.
While France, for instance, has been almost as insistent on a tough stance against Iran’s nuclear program as the United States, France has also in recent days alienated many members of the Security Council by offering only 200 troops to a peacekeeping effort in Lebanon.
Do you see how seemlessly all these problems fit together? This is what a failed foreign policy looks like. Failure in Afghanistan, failure in Iraq, and failure in Lebanon, leads to failure with Iran. But this is the team that wants to run on keeping Americans safe.
Now I’m going to finish my New York Times and see what fantastic news is in the Washington Post.
