Forget Iraq — Let’s Harass Turkey

Forget Iraq — Let’s Harass Turkey: If you want to see the duplicitous nature of what passes for foreign policy advice on the left these days you need look no further than this editorial from the New York Times.

The Times seems to be suggesting that we deliberately alienate all of our unsavory allies in the Middle-East by slamming Democracy down their throat. They focus on Turkey (the most Democratic nation in the region other than Israel) and also mention “Pakistan, Morocco, Kuwait, Bahrain and Egypt.”

They even go so far as to suggest that invading Iraq while Turkey isn’t as Democratic as the Times would like it to be is, “most striking example of Washington’s hypocrisy.” Furthermore, in the closing paragraph the Times says, “If the Bush administration is prepared to send Americans into combat to advance the cause of democracy in Iraq surely it can press harder for reform in countries where democracy can be promoted in far less costly ways.”

First off, we’re not going into Iraq “to advance the cause of democracy.” We’re going to remove Saddam from power because he’s a threat to the lives of millions of US citizens. Afterwards, because we’re benevolent people and because we believe Democracy will benefit the people of Iraq (and us in the long-run), we will do our best to get a working Democracy going in Iraq.

So why is the NYT deliberately misinterpreting the reason the Bush administration wants to invade Iraq? Because it allows them to suggest a course of action that “sounds good” (even if it accomplishes nothing). This allows the NYT to sit around and pat themselves on the back for plugging Democracy — even as they oppose an invasion that would actually bring Democracy to Iraq.

If the best the left can come up with in the middle of the ‘war on terrorism’ is, ‘harass Turkey until they become more Democratic,’ is it any wonder that most Americans don’t feel that they can trust the left when American lives are on the line?

Share this!

Enjoy reading? Share it with your friends!