Maureen Dowd: Dr. Strangelove's second chance
The Bush Administration's amorality, arrogance, and incompetence are newly revealed almost on a daily basis. Now our "Great Leader" has turned to 'Dr. Strangelove' for advice, according to Bob Woodward.
Yes, Henry Kissinger is back.
The architect of my generation's 'Apocalypse', Vietnam, is now counseling George W. Bush on the Iraq War.
As recently released tapes, diaries and notes clearly indicate, Kissinger and Nixon purposely delayed any U.S. pullout from Vietnam until after the 1972 elections. Nixon knew all along that the war was unwinnable and knowingly sent young Americans to their deaths for purely political motives. On one tape Nixon says to Kissinger, "The U.S. cannot win this war. The South Vietnam regime is too corrupt" (Tapes played on CSPAN several months ago--How many Americans listened, I wonder?).
And now Henry Kissinger, this man who prolonged the Vietnam War, this discredited and unwise windbag, this utterly amoral individual-- is adviser to another crook in the oval office...
Maureen Dowd: Dr. Strangelove's second chance
Published: Wednesday October 4, 2006
"Tom Lehrer said that political satire was rendered obsolete when Henry Kissinger won a Nobel Peace Prize for prolonging the Vietnam War," writes New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd in Wednesday's paper.
"But even the inventive Lehrer could never have imagined that Dr. Strangelove would get a second chance to contribute to misleading the public about a military catastrophe in a misunderstood land -- a do-over in scarring the American psyche and reputation in profound ways," writes Dowd.
Excerpts from Dowd's column:
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Yet, as Bob Woodward reveals in "State of Denial," the sequel to "Bush Is a Genius," Kissinger has been one of the few trusted outside advisers that W. has listened to on Iraq. The administration has shaped its policy to hew to the 83-year-old Unwise Man's belief that the only way to beat an insurgency is to stick it out, no matter how many American kids and foreign civilians die.
Especially if elections are coming up. As the historian Robert Dallek, who is writing a book on Nixon and Kissinger, notes, "Kissinger was complicit in using foreign policy to try to save Nixon during Watergate."
Bob Haldeman wrote in his diary on Dec. 15, 1970, using "K" for Kissinger and "P" for President Nixon: "K came in and the discussion covered some of the general thinking about Vietnam and the P's big peace plan for next year, which K later told me he does not favor. He thinks that any pullout next year would be a serious mistake because the adverse reaction to it could set in well before the '72 elections. He favors, instead, a continued winding down and then a pullout right at the fall of '72 so that if any bad results follow they will be too late to affect the election. It seems to make sense."
Thirty-five years later, Kissinger, the consummate fawner, was once more able to sway a president with faux deference. Dr. K encouraged W. to play the tough guy on the war, even though he'd never gone to war himself.
Curtesy of Raw Story -- http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Maureen__Dowd_Dr._Strangeloves
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posted by MrKen45 at 1:32 PM
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