This Victor Davis Hanson post has a list of "leftwing talking points" that Ahmadinejad talked about in New York recently. They include "Katrina, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, missing WMD, the 1953 Iranian coup." It's interesting that he cedes the issues of competent government and torture to the leftwing, but what caught my was the part about the 1953 coup. I haven't noticed leftwingers bringing it up but it is worthwhile to occasionally remind Americans that our history with that country didn't begin in 1979. It may be "leftwing" for an American to bring the subject up but wouldn't it qualify as patriotic, a more conservative impulse, for an Iranian to be upset about it? I've noted before the disdain conservatives have for the patriotism of foreigners.
While praising The New Republic's ridiculous review of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy
, Jeffrey Herf states that "Goldberg is quite right that many people in the West are reluctant to attach the label of anti-Semitism to arguments." I've been under the impression in the last few years that the term has been thrown around so carelessly that it has lost meaning.The Bacevich article in the latest TAC has received loads of attention and that's good, but there are other worthwhile pieces in the issue. That includes an essay (the second of two) that includes this gem of a quote: ". . . for so long . . . far too many Americans, possibly a majority, preferred comforting lies to unpleasant truths and acted as co-conspirators in their own deception." It also features a column by Fred Reed pointing out that foreigners, the jerks, insist on seeing things from their own point of view and get tired of American meddling and condescension. Really?
5 comments:
You're right about the importance of keeping in mind the 1953 coup. You may not, as you say, have noticed, but people on the left recognize the coup's importance, too. For starters:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050228/aslan/2
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0810-06.htm
http://www.counterpunch.org/solomon06232005.html
It's more than a coincidence that the political group in America least likely to accurately cite the past nowadays is also the one most likely to express support for interventions abroad.
Ron Paul has talked about the 1953 coup quite a bit. It's the perfect example of Blowback.
The Fred Reed piece is great, isn't it? Succinctly states the obvious ... or, I should say, the should-be-obvious.
The idea that charges of anti-semitism is taboo is so laughable but for the fact people routinely lose jobs over this sort of thing.
The idea that charges of anti-semitism is taboo is so laughable but for the fact people routinely lose jobs over this sort of thing.
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