The Rant

By Bob Clasen In retrospect, I question my own idealistic notion that Iraq offered an opportunity to install a democracy in the heart of the Mideast. I am very tempted to put my tail between my legs, abandon the Neocons, and ask the old fashioned "Realpolitik" Republicans if they will take me back, a sadder but wiser man. The balance of power between Iraq and Iran, Sunni and Shia, Hussein and the Ayatollah doesn't look nearly so bad to me now. George Bush Sr.'s decision to leave Iraq after the first Gulf War starts to make more and more sense. It is interesting that some of the conservatives are dropping off the Bush-Cheney Titantic, like rats deserting a sinking ship, including George Will and perhaps Willliam F. Buckley. Debate is now out in the open among various conservatives as to what went wrong and what is to be done. The idea that a minimal occupation force could "Nation Build" in Iraq is looking more and more like a pipe dream. This Islamic c

Bob: You have been more than vocal recently about Islamic Terrorists. I think your concerns are well founded. Unfortunately all the BS surrounding the 9/11 - Iraq link totally appears to have reduced the debate to Bush Lied, stay the course, get out of Iraq, etc. without the public having a real discussion about how big the Islamic threat is and is Osama really behind all of it. You really ought to buy the book or CD "The Osama Bin Laden I Know"...I think its by Peter Bergen, the CNN journalist who interviewed Bin Laden a long time ago. The book is a collection of interviews, newspaper articles, news releases, etc. about Bin Laden and other terrorists over many years. What the book makes clear is that the modern Jihad movement that started with the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Because it suited our aims of keeping the Russians in check, we didn't pay any attention to Egyptian clerks, who seem to be the most influential in the Jihad movement. They called upon ALL G