Lack of Critical Thinking (1 cent)

The morning call-in show on CSPAN today was on attitudes towards the United States as experienced by Americans traveling abroad this summer. Most of the callers were quite interesting. One, who had spent time in Cairo, said, among other things that Egyptians wonder why "there is not more critical thinking done by Americans". What an interesting question.

That brought me to critical thinking about George Bush and his war on terror, and spefically about Iraq. So far, what has happened is that Saddam Hussein has been deposed, and the entire country (if you can call it that) has been put at great risk of civil war between Sunnis (minority Muslims formerly on top of the heap in Saddam days), Kurds (who would love nothing better than their own country), and Shiite Arabs (who share hatred of the Sunnis with the Kurds, and who are religiously allied with Shiite, non-Arab Iran).

In Saddam days, after the Iran-Iraq War (Sunni led vs. Shiite), and the Gulf War, the Kurds and the Shiites were protected by a no-fly zone controlled by the United States. Now, they will be subject to a government which is Shiite led (if there will ever be a truly functioning government), and which will clearly be under Iranian influence.

So, the major effect of George Bush's war on terror in Iraq has been to strengthen Iran and the Shiites, so that they will control Iran, Iraq and (through Hezbollah) Lebanon, at least. George Bush has done more for Iran than any Iranian leader could ever have done by himself.

Therefore, those who are pleased with Bush's war on terror in Iraq, and who believe that we are just going over some inevitable bumps in the road, have not engaged, in my opinion, in sufficient critical thinking. The war on terror has made things worse.

Not only for this country, but for geographically perilous Israel, of course, whose leaders and populace may also have lacked in the critical thinking department. For Ahmedjihad (or whatever his name may be; I like the one I use)is cleverly posing himself as a friend of the Arabs (of course, using Shiite brotherhood), and doing so by being more more anti-Israel than even the Palestinians, again in order to increase Iranian hegemony over the entire area.

This is bad, bad, bad.