1:33AM
This week's column

Iran: This emperor has no clothes
Americans swallow enemy propaganda at face value, subjecting us to knee-jerking manipulation by fiery orators. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, with a few choice phrases, successfully elevates himself to the status of a Muslim "Hitler." But this populist windbag is already losing his grip in Tehran, giving Washington a strategic opportunity we don't yet appreciate.
While American neocons and Israeli hawks would bomb Iran today, lest it continue enriching uranium, try viewing the situation less emotionally.
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Reader Comments (6)
The actual threat from Saddam and his nonexistent WMDs wasn't as grave as the pre-invasion propaganda said either. That didn't stop the invasion the administration had already decided on.
I'm hopeful that the public will indeed "see through the propaganda" this time and demand a different approach to Iran. I'm just not sure that, in the end, the actual threat and what you or I think will have any effect on what the president and his men finally do.
{Dean Barnett should assist Hugh with the questions.}
Nixon killed the USSR by slow poison, and it was a masterful thing to watch. The countless lives he saved on that one overwhelm any guilt he carries on Vietnam.
The death of the USSR was a multi-presidency affair, agreed. Each presidency had their own role to play. Reagan was crucial, in my opinion, on multiple fronts, only one of which was the psychological pressure he exerted on the USSR. I do not think that we would have made convincing enough winners without his relentless "Morning in America" cheerleading.
I also think that the AFL-CIO's entry into Poland (I once shared a plane ride with one of their trainers who schooled Solidarity leaders in Polish RC basements) would either not have happened or would have happened much less effectively without Reagan's sunny conviction that we could win and win soon. A less well trained Solidarity might not have been able to make the Polish communists blink.
Bush, unfortunately, is not as gifted as Reagan in inspiration and communication. Bush has the same challenges, though. He has a hostile domestic and world media, a corrupt international order that is ok with not winning against an obvious evil, and a messy situation that could easily go wrong, badly.
You say I always want to believe the best of Bush. It would be rather more accurate to say that I refuse to join in attacking Bush when doing so does not serve the goal of bringing about a future worth creating. I keep my eyes on that prize as I have three kids I want to live in a future that I won't be ashamed to hand over to them when their time comes.