What if George Bush were to say tomorrow that our motivation for going into Iraq was to secure oil wealth for the west and to protect Israel—might that reverse his slide in the polls?
A splendid post on Syria Comment, Oklahoma U. Prof Josh Landis’s blog, says that Bush needs to do just that to win support in the Middle East. “Ehsani2″ writes that Osama Bin Laden has always been transparent about his motivation: He wants Islamists to take full control of the oil fields, rid the region of dictators, and then deal with the west from a position of strength. Ehsani says that Bush should take a page from Osama’s book.
Ehsani suggests a program for Bush that includes these points:
Ehsani lives in the Middle East (and Landis says he doesn’t know who he is). But a lot of the rage in the U.S. toward Bush springs from the same feeling: Bush was not upfront about the gravest decision a President can make. I would still oppose his policy if those hidden agendas were out on the table. But other Americans might rally to his side. God knows he can’t do any worse.
