The Bully Pulpit, Guatemala Edition

One of them might be how amazing it is to me that any conservative ever thought that we were in Iraq to 'liberate' or help the Iraqi people.

Did you read the Jed Babbin article? If not, you might want to amend that to "some conservatives" after reading it. If you had polled "conservatives" on the day we invaded Iraq, you would have found most of them thought we were going into Iraq to shut Saddam's so-called WMD operations down. A smaller group of us knew that Bush was a neo-Wilsonian (or neo-Jacobin) and that his intentions were to spread whatever his vision of global happiness might be, by force if necessary. This "spreading democracy" garbage came along after the WMD thing blew up in their faces.

We could pay a bit more attention to and invest a bit more in our neighbors and not so much in countries that are nearly on the other side of the world.

Depending on what you mean by attention and investment, I pretty much agree. However, unless the Guatemalans ask for help with their "problem" it is really none of our business, regardless of what the BBC and Amnesty International say about it.

No, but why not? We're ready to swing our armies in elsewhere to meddle in business that is not ours.

So that must have been a rhetorical question. We certainly do seem to have problems acting on our status of sole superpower in an adult fashion.

And while you're at it, tell me all about your life in Guatemala, too.

You don't have time. Surprised? I have spent more time than I care to recall in Central and South American cesspools. When I commented on the extremity of the situation, I was doing so from firsthand experience. Those numbers are only remarkable in that they are being heard outside Guatemala. They may even be low.

So why aren't Americans outraged at the longstanding lack of justice for Guatemalan citizens, close neighbors of ours?

Well, for one thing, only liberals get outraged over subjective and mushy terms like "justice." Ergo, since most Americans aren't liberals, there is no outrage. This is supported by the fact that the only notable outrage seems to be generated by Amnesty International and the BBC, two organizations with deep associations on the Left.

For a short while, we were all fired up about fighting for the longstanding lack of justice and freedom for Iraqi citizens, people who don't live anywhere near us.

Freedom, maybe, but justice, hardly. Bush and his fellow neo-Wilsonians sold their plan in two flavors. The first was intended for people who were paying attention. It was based on the idea that spreading democracy in the Middle East would have some magical curative effect and the terrorists would wilt under it like so much crabgrass. The second flavor was for the touchy-feely types who went all warm and moist over the idea of Iraquis voting and getting MTV, and like, shopping malls and everything.

Hopefully, by now, most people are beginning to understand both flavors were horse manure and maybe that will help us to see through the haze next time. Who knows? Maybe it will even help prevent our doing something dumb in Guatemala.