Per Fagering radio commentary: Bush’s Training Wheels 5-28-04

[0rganism]

(note: this is not copyrighted material, as far as I can tell; Per reads an editorial on KBOO radio every week and posts it to the kboo mailing list later in the day)

Bush’s Training Wheels
by Per Fagereng
5-28-04

The other day George Bush fell off his bicycle and John Kerry was quoted as asking, "Did his training wheels come off?"

According to the Drudge Report, journalists debated among themselves whether to report that remark, and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley thought it was in poor taste.

But no one blinked an eye when George Bush himself, in touting his sovereignty scheme, said Iraqis are now ready to "take the training wheels off" and govern themselves.

Apparently it’s okay to look at Iraqis, heirs to one of the oldest civilizations in the world, and compare them to children, but not to disparage George Bush, the frat boy in the White House.

If you think that’s demeaning, consider this. A reporter for Free Speech Radio tells of meeting one of Paul Bremer’s bodyguards at a dinner party. In the course of the conversation the bodyguard said, among other nasty things, that Arabs are "immature – they’re like a bunch of sixteen-year-olds and we have to show them how to become part of the civilized world."

Where did he get such an attitude? Perhaps he read a book called "The Arab Mind," by Raphael Patai, who is apparently regarded as a serious scholar.

Here’s a quote from the book: "Why are most Arabs, unless forced by dire necessity to earn their livelihood with ‘the sweat of the brow,’ so loath to undertake any work that dirties the hands?" I don’t think that’s an Arab attitude. My own parents, who were Norwegian immigrants, told me all the time that it was better to work with the brain than the hands. I heard the same from Jewish friends. I wonder if the scholar Patai ever worked with his hands.

"The Arab Mind" is widely read in the US military, and is a text book for Special Forces officers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

It claims that the Arab has an "all-encompassing preoccupation with sex" and has little self-control. It says, "Once aroused, Arab hostility will vent itself indiscriminately on all outsiders."

Here’s another quote, this one from an American lieutenant colonel who commanded an Iraqi village surrounded by barbed wire. Said the officer, "With a heavy dose of fear and violence, and a lot of money for projects, I think we can convince these people we are here to help them."

So now George Bush has decided that the Iraqis are ready for some form of sovereignty. The reason is obvious. The Iraqis are ready because they fought back and brought Bush’s war to a standstill.

One has to ask, What can the US teach anyone? Certainly not humility. America as a whole seems to be on a national ego trip. A shrink will tell you that most egomaniacs feel empty inside. In their heart of hearts they feel worthless.

So what is America good at? I can think of two things:

Jazz, which grew out of a black culture that defied oppression. And marketing, for what that’s worth. We are the hype center of the world.

On the other hand, the richest nation in history has largely squandered its wealth. It’s unable, or unwilling, to feed and house its people. It can’t provide health care, or educate all its young. It is leaving its children a mountain of garbage and a mountain of debt.

Yet George Bush and his neo-con artists presume to instruct others in the ways of civilization. Instead, we should be asking, what did we do wrong? We should be asking rest of the world to help us find our way.

http://www.kboo.fm/index.php

[LittleApple81]

1. Thanks for this. It is very good. n/t