I don’t watch Fox News so I am indebted to Jon Stewart for bringing this revelation to my attention: It was George W. Bush (and Tony Blair) who brought freedom to the Middle East!
Really.
Blair (you remember him?) said as much on Fox.
(Click here to watch the program. Warning: some scenes might be offensive.)
Apparently by telling the world he was invading Iraq to introduce democracy to the region, Bush planted the seed that has blossomed into Egypt’s overthrow of the dictator who had ruled that country for three decades.
But wait a minute. Wasn’t that the same dictator who enjoyed U.S. support all that time? Wasn’t he the recipient of more than a billion dollars a year in foreign aid? Weren’t his troops trained in America and didn’t his arms come from America?
I wonder who watches Fox.
As the fire of freedom sweeps through the Middle East, it looks as if a new order is on the horizon.
Some of the revolution’s results may benefit the United States; some may not.
It looks as if rulers might be overthrown in places like Yemen, where the government is pro-American, and places like Iran, where the government is anti-American.
The price of oil might go through the roof (again!), and that would not be a Good Thing for America.
But Iran might get a sane government, one that’s not intent on building a nuclear bomb to blow up Israel. And that would be a big relief.
But in the turmoil and uncertainty that lie ahead, one thing is clear: America doesn’t have much control over the situation,
And, sorry Fox viewers, George W. Bush didn’t invent freedom.
(Photo shows Turkish citizens celebrating the overthrow of Egyptian dictator Hsni Mubarak.)
