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02/25/2005: "Iran and Togo Off the Wall"

With foreign policy in the news with Bush’s European trip, let’s pick on two items of interest in this sphere. They have no particular relationship other than having enough irony content to give pause to those of us with heightened sensitivity to irony (or those whose sense of irony has not been dulled by the overwhelming volume of right wing self-contradiction we’ve been subject to since they grabbed the national microphone!) First, maybe we should make up our mind about how we feel about Iranian weapons. Let’s not forget that there was a time when a GOP Administration felt so good about Iran having weapons that it intentionally broke a law prohibiting the US from providing such weapons. This happened during the tenure of St. Ronnie of Illinois, precipitating the famous Iran-Contra scandal. I felt at the time that Ronnie was lucky to be able to stay in office. Had he not been more likable than Tricky Dick Nixon he may well have gotten the axe. Considering that actual lawbreaking was involved, it was certainly a more significant infraction than Clinton’s consensual adult one-sided oral gratification with only one episode of “completion” (doesn’t sound very gratifying to me!) And now Bush is flying around the world trying to get the Foreign Countries he ignored while going to war with Iraq excited about giving up their arms deals with Iran. Then here’s a second news item: US Expresses Concern for Democracy in Togo. It seems that the new leader of Togo happens to be the son of a former leader. Maybe it’s just me but I swear this has also happened in some other country, like one of the NATO countries. Not sure which one, though. Canada? Nope. The UK? Nope, still Tony Blair. Not France or Germany. Don’t say anything – I’m sure it will come to me any second…