Straw-Man Diplomacy (and does Iran want McCain?)

[Barack_America]

Straw-Man Diplomacy

Thursday, May. 22, 2008
By JOE KLEIN

On the Friday before the 2004 presidential election, Osama bin Laden released a videotape slamming George W. Bush, which more than a few people took as a tacit endorsement of John Kerry. The CIA saw it differently, though. According to Ron Suskind's fine book, The One Percent Doctrine, Deputy Director John McLaughlin said, "Bin Laden certainly did a nice favor today for the President." It seemed obvious to the top CIA analysts that bin Laden wanted to keep Bush — who had let the terrorists off the hook in Afghanistan and launched the war in Iraq, a great recruiting tool for al-Qaeda — in power.

Which raises the question: Who are the bad guys rooting for in 2008?....

-snip-

When I asked McCain on May 19 why he kept linking Obama to Ahmadinejad, he said that Ahmadinejad represents Iran at the U.N., which is a fair point, and that the "average American" thinks he's the leader of Iran, which he isn't. Indeed, it could be argued that McCain's Ahmadinejad obsession "increases the prestige" of a relatively powerless loudmouth for domestic political gain. Linking Obama to the world's most famous anti-Semite certainly doesn't hurt McCain among Jewish retirees in Florida, a swing state. In any case, don't be surprised if Ahmadinejad pulls a bin Laden and "denounces" McCain just before the election this year.

Why? Because the last thing Iran's leaders want is an American President who doesn't play the role of the Great Satan. They need the mirage of an implacable, saber-rattling foe to distract their population from the utter incompetence of their government. An American President who said, "Let's talk," would lead an awful lot of Iranians to ask their leaders, "Why aren't you talking?" That was certainly the case after the reformer Mohammed Khatami won a surprise landslide election to become the Iranian President in 1997. The Clinton Administration began making quiet diplomatic overtures toward Khatami, and a handshake between Clinton and him was choreographed for the 2000 U.N. General Assembly meeting — but Khatami backed out at the last minute, under pressure from his clerical superiors. In recent Iranian elections, the mullahs have made sure that reformers like Khatami were ineligible to run for the presidency and the Iranian parliament — although there are indications that Khamenei considers Ahmadinejad to be an unnecessarily bellicose embarrassment as well.

More:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1808467,00.html?imw=Y


Are the Republicans and "Axis of Evil" leaders actually BFF's?

I, for one, am shocked! ;)

[Barack_America]

1. I thought this brought up some interesting ideas...

No?

:shrug:

[Barack_America]

2. kick with changed title.

This is my last attempt, lol.