Wherever the United States sends its military they’re always carrying the torch and flying the battle-flag of democracy. From FDR to Biden America’s justification has always been “the arsenal of Democracy”. Arsenal meaning the ones with the guns and WMDs.
But has the furtherance of democracy ever been the actual goal of the USA? Has it been achieved anywhere where America intervened? The answers seem to be no and no.
In Chile, Nicaragua and a number of other Latin countries elected gov’ts were assailed or overthrown. Chavez was elected. In Vietnam JFK called off the promised election that surely would have been won by Ho Chi Min and triggered the war. It seems in most such cases, where there was no threat to Americans, the USA policy has not been to promote democracy. To actually undo it has been more the reality.
Then there’s the other case where a nasty military dictatorship is America’s target, as they should be, though they posed no threat to America. Neither Saddam Hussein, Gadaffi, Assad, Iran and the Taliban ever killed a single American. Democracy really took a crashing leap into Islam in 2001 and 20 years later?; well let’s just say democracy was the big loser. But was it ever America’s true cause? I doubt it.
Needless to say that when you invade the ME and Vietnam, and you withdraw and there is no democracy left behind you have lost. Why has such a noble cause as democracy lost? In all cases it lost to the mass will of the people? Was any combat soldier in either generation really fighting for democracy? There’s is not much evidence of it.
The answer is simple, not complicated. Americans do not fathom the Muslim mind as indeed they do not fathom the Oriental mind. In 1960 the Vietnamese were fighting a civil war of independence and the Americans were fighting communism. In 2001 Afghanistan and later Iraq to hear Bush, Rumsfeld & co tell it, America was fighting for democracy. The Muslims were fighting a Shia/Sunni civil war, a Jihad against each other.
The one guy who stands out in this post WW2 history, the evil genius, who fathomed everything was George Herbert Walker Bush. Yup! He was behind the elected Allende’s assassination, Iran-Contra, Noriega’s rise and he did Desert Storm. Plus he was an unabashed notorious brother to the Saudi princes, oil guns and money. Reagan, who had no global view, didn’t know anything about any of those folks. GHW ran the world for a long time 1976–2008. His only real setback was he couldn’t survive Reaganomics.
So GHW Bush is the pivot and he is how I know the crusade for democracy has always been a sham. Untrue. A dishonest propaganda lie.
Kuwait in 1990 was ruled by King Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabaha. A birth-right unelected military monarch who fled to Saudi Arabia within hours of Saddam’s invasion.
Desert Storm/Kuwait is where GHW Bush’s unique grasp of the Muslim mind, was revealed. But it also blew the cover off of America’s phony crusade for democracy. Because when Hussein was driven from Kuwait GHW didn’t call for democracy and free elections. No-sir-ee! He put the Kuwaiti King right back on the throne. Not one of the 35 allied nations said a word about it.
It was probably a good thing for American Wall Street interests. But Bush’s was even more savvy about not following up, invading Iraq and taking Saddam out. GHW understood that Islamic states are no suited to democracy. Allah and his associates win every election. The idea of man’s law, a manmade Constitution is beyond them. Clinton understood and after Somalia it was hands off by him.
GHW’s dullard son came along and proved what a disaster a truly stupid president can be. And Junior still doesn’t know. Later even Obama with his Arab Spring speech, with the best intentions, led to more failings.
Even in 2021 it is very much still the world GHW built.
