Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Transformation?

On this week, the fifth anniversary of America's illegal invasion of Iraq, Dubya gave a speech still defending what he did and spoke again of the "transformative" power of democracy, which is religious right code for, "We're gonna impose Christianity on those 'stupid infidels' whether they like it or not." Transformation being a synonym for "transfiguration" -- one of the key moments of the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth.

While democracy should be the norm for all freedom loving people, you just can't impose it on someone if they don't want it. Free elections may have been held in Iraq, true, but clearly there's a significant portion of the population there who believe democracy and Islam are incompatible -- and want an Iranian style caliphate. Officially, Iraq is also still an enemy of Israel.

Sadly, the legacy of the second Bush will be his absolute stubborness. He makes a decision first then seeks out advice only from those he agrees with to concur that decision. A true leader may stick by his or her guns but will always hear the point of view from the devil's advocate.

As for transformation -- we've seen how Iraq has transformed. The war is still going on and people are worse off than five years ago. Meanwhile, America has also transformed (especially on the Gulf Coast) and you don't see Dubya doing anything about that.

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