Jean Schmidt Explains A Mideast Challenges [sic]

Schmidt is the new Ohio Congresscritter who last year called John Murtha a coward on the floor of the House... or rather conveyed a message from a 'friend' who said of Murtha, "...cowards cut and run". That little speech was so bad that she was booed soundly, forced to issue an apology and made to beg for her remarks be stricken from the Federal Register. Now, she explains the Mideast to us.

Why Do They Hate Us?

The Middle East has been a synonym for diplomatic challenges our whole lives. I hope that our children one day can tell their children it is the home of the Holy Land and no further explanation is needed.

"...a synonym for... challenges"?! Man, Mr. Johnson* would so bust her for that one!

..Some people are oppressed by dictators, some by Mother Nature, others by disease, still more by economics. Regardless of the cause, the oppressed all share the same misery, tears, and despair.

She forgot to mention the oppressed who are oppressed by oppression!

...The United States is the kindest, most generous country to ever exist on this planet. We spend billions all over the world feeding, caring, protecting, and building.

I guess Jean hasn't read the memo comparing our aid spending to that of other countries. And I guess she forgot we own about 45% of the world's armaments and most of its nuclear weapons. And I guess she might not have known about that little conflict we started in Iraq which has kindly killed up to 100,000 people.

It is easy to understand that when you know your liberator and he does not come, it must mean he doesn't care. Hearts begin to fill with hate. Evil takes root. Soon all of your problems only exist because the United States failed to solve them.

How about when you know your oppressor and he won't leave? Does that mean he cares? And what about when your problems only exist because the United States has caused them - in addition to because it has failed to solve them?

...The Iraqi's perception is that we are all powerful. We watch them from space with technology they cannot even imagine. Surely if we wanted to turn on [some complaining young man** from the Mideast's] electricity we could do so. He has no idea how large the problem is but he knows we can do anything. He was angry. Eventually his air conditioning began running and his anger cooled.

Air conditioners for the world!! (and no, I've already done one grammar flame. We shall leave the obvious grammatical error unremarked... well except for the remark I just made). But honestly, this is the first time the roots of extremism have been revealed to be lack of a.c. Who knew?

My point is the hatred towards America isn't always based on what we did but often simply not living up to the beliefs of what the oppressed think we are capable of doing.

But what if the hatred is based on what we did? Such as, oh, shipping tons of missiles to Israel so they could bomb more civilians. Or, say, virtually leveling the town of Fallujah so that only 10% of the buildings were habitable? Or, oh, putting a hotheaded asshole in the United Nations so he can veto and block measures which benefit people throughout the world?

Some are angry because in the past we made mistakes that compounded or even extended their misery. Many are angry because we fail to live up to their expectations. Ronald Reagan once said that our opposition is not ignorant it is just that so much of what they believe is just not true.

And here's the irony! Schmidt uses a snotty Reagan quote whose wrong-headedness illustrates why 'they' hate 'us' better than her entire essay does, yet she doesn't even realize it!

And the exciting conclusion?

For the United States the lesson must be -- as we head down a different path of foreign diplomacy - Evil that is ignored is indeed Evil that is assisted. The oppressed will always remember.

Absolutely! And not just because we didn't fix their air conditioners, but because we killed and maimed their children, raped them, tortured them, destroyed their infrastructure and imposed policies on them that are not in their best interests. Oh, and because we supported other countries who did the same.

*My high school English teacher, junior year.

**Jean was told about this angry young man by a young Iraqi soldier in Baghdad.