Why They Continue To Come

From his roost in Johns Hopkins University’s the Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studiesin Washington, DC where he teaches American foreign policy, Mr. Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote a recent op-ed piece in The Washington Post in which he decried that one of the major follies of US president George W. Bush’s foreign policy is his determination to achieve colonialism abroad in a post-colonial era. Mr. Brzezinski who was former president Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser is in the best stead to make such a charge and be taken seriously for it.

The thrust of Mr. Brezezinski’s piece is that the invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq under what has turned out clearly to be false pretense by Mr. Bush does not have the least chance of achieving any of the fantastic desires that its architects have continued to brandish since their earlier rational of Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction, WMD has fallen flat on its face. Mr. Brezezinski’s argument has been made by many other thoughtful analysts and public figures before and after the invasion five years ago. Former South Africa president, Mr. Nelson Mandela was one of the first prominent personalities who publicly castigated Bush on the eve of his invasion of Iraq in the speech where he called him somebody “who does not and cannot think properly” who is intent on plunging the world into a holocaust. Although Mr. Bush satisfied his desire and invaded Iraq, it is abundantly clear that his occupation of Iraq has been anything but effective.

The intriguing thing about Mr. Bush’s invasion and occupation of and Iraq is that the more the American public disapproves of it, the more Mr. Bush and those who think like him in the Republican Party seem to be convinced that it is the right thing to do. When news that Mr. John McCain who was considered the front runner in the Republican Party for the nomination in next year’s presidential election was out-raised in funds in the first quarter of this year by Mr. Romney, who only declared his interest to be president last year, some close observers attributed that to Mr. McCain's unwavering support for Mr. Bush's invasion and continuing occupation of Iraq. Someone that I know even joked that Mr. McCain has let George Bush to destroy his tenure in the White House even before he could win it.

These not withstanding, in their first debate, which took place in Ronald Reagan’s presidential library in California last week, every one of the contenders for the nomination in the Republican Party endorsed the invasion and occupation of Iraq. With all that has become crystal clear to the world about the invasion and continuing occupation of Iraq today, the Republican White House hopefuls have clearly shown that they are all die-hard colonialists. At the same time, it’s lost on them that it’s unrealistic to achieve colonialism in a post-colonial era.