It’s been one of those weeks in which the universe seems determined to disply its sense of irony to fullest.
On Sunday, we discover that Saddam Hussein is to hang…
…and on Wednesday his old mucker, Donnie Rumsfeld finds himself out of a job.
Meanwhile, and on the same day, Nicaragua elects a new president – Daniel Ortega…
… and Bush nominates a former Director of the CIA (under Poppy Bush), Robert Gates, as Rumsfeld’s replacement, a man with an equally interesting line in personal history.
You see while Rummy was off chummying it up with dear old Saddam on behalf of Ronnie Reagan, it seems (allegedly) that his proposed replacement was up to his ass in the whole Iran-Contra business, which, as you might well recall, entailed the US seeling arms to Iran on the quiet and diverting the proceeds to fund Contra insurgents who were trying to topple Ortega – although Gates was never indicted, his first nomination for CIA Director was withdrawn due to doubts over his role in the Iran-Contra ‘affair’, following which there were secondary allegations that he also passed information to Iraq during its war with Iran.
Two words come to mind here – ‘Moral’ and ‘ Bankruptcy’.
There’s also this.
…Howard Teicher, who served on Reagan’s National Security Council staff, offered an affidavit […] that declared that CIA director William J. Casey and his deputy, Robert M. Gates, “authorized, approved and assisted” delivery of cluster bombs to Iraq…
It appears that he is, by the customary standard, well qualified for his new role.
It was Nicaragua that first got me interested in international politics and led me to read ‘The Jaguar Smile: Nicaraguan Journey’ by Salman Rushdie. A government of poets! The Sadinista government won a United Nations award for its health programme. Rummy oversaw the deaths of hundreds of thousands in Iraq. Welcome back Dan, fuck off Don.
Its sad that dictators who rule by fear gain respect because they oppose a democratic country (whatever its failings).
The moral bankruptcy of the left is as bad as that of the right, if not worse.
Both left and right have supported dictators who suppress their people. The left has no moral superiority, which it likes to claim.