forrest for the trees 30 June 2004 11:00 A.M.
___________________________________________________________________________
So, as I read the reactions to Fahrenheit 9/11, especially from people on the right, I'm struck by their inability to to see the forest for the trees. And even then, they pick the wrong trees to focus on. Some critics (of the political, not movie kind) dismiss the parts about the Bush-Saudi connections as crazy conspiracy theories. They miss, however, the comment by a reporter in the movie, who said something to the effect of "this isn't about some vast conspiracy to rule the world. It's about making money, lots and lots of money." It's not that the Saudi's are pulling the strings on the Bush administration, it's that the Bush family and their supporters ("some call you the elite, I call you my base," G.W. Bush says in the movie) have aligned interests with the Saudi family. The Saudis, and other OPEC governments, received massive windfall profits from the massive price hikes during the 1970s oil crisis, and they needed some place to invest all that money. They can only buy so many Rolls Royces and build fancy highways in their countries (though, they could educate their people, diversify their economies, etc., but that's a different rant). In the 70s and 80s a lot of those petro dollars went to Latin America and other emerging markets, but a lot of it was invested in the United States and Europe. And, as F9/11 details, chunks of this money went to the Bush family and associates. Is it that much of a conspiracy to say that Bush is a crony capitalist that uses the government as his personal payback account, dispensing goodies to his "base"? (I prefer to call them the elites, or the "have mores" as Bush also called them) If the administration made hiring decisions for the staffers in Iraw to lead the reconstruction by choosing people based upon their resumes being posted by a conservative think tank, not upon whether they were qualified or not (which happened in several cases, I'll have to track down the Post or Salon article where I read that), then why should be expect the major decisions to be any better.
George W. Bush is a liar. He claims to represent the American people, but he's only out to make money for him and his. That's not a conspiracy, that's crony capitalism run amok.
___________________________________________________________________________
|
Current Music: The Saturday People - Sun Never Sets
