If we are into all that nation building in Iraq, which serves no long term interests (Mohammedans will always loathe us), why not work to topple Mugabe and start something else here as well?

NPR is one of the best AM radio programming lineups in the area that I live (sad, I know). Yestreday on my way to and from work, I heard an interview with Morgan Tsvangerai from some NPR reporter who was baffled, baffled by his pulling out of the race. She kept asking him whether or not he was giving up his best chance for change and abandoning his supporters after all this groundwork had been laid.

The man was an icon of patience with this twit. He explained (over and over) that this was not an election and that by pulling out he was in fact denying Mugabe the faux legitimacy he would claim when the inevitable result came out (he also mentioned the fact that Mugabe has already refused to step down regardless of the results).

The reporter simply did not understand. I was as if she expected some magic process to take over once the election was held that would depose Mugabe and place Tsvangirai in power. Apparently, she missed the memo that he had already won an election and that this was Mugabe’s stalling tactic so that he could brutalize the population into voting the right way. No clue whatsoever. And did I mention that the only solution she could conceive of was diplomatic pressure from other African nations (fat chance) and the US and Britain.

Yes, I know this is confirming a complete divorce from reality that many of us had long suspected from certain segments of the population, but to hear it on a radio news program throws the whole issue into sharp relief. At this point, the only solution is some sort of economic embargo (to force some kind of revolution from within once things become truly unbearable) or foreign military intervention. Stalinist dictators don’t care about public opinion unless there is some honest force behind it. Unfortunately, the above mentioned segment of the population will never understand this.

I took Limerick’s point to be an example of the neocon-esque notion that all peoples the world over are equally desirous and capable of creating a sane, functioning democratic state. Limerick’s notion of dropping infantry field manuals was the military prong of this same idea: that is, that all we need to do is tell them what they’ve been doing wrong, and VOILA!, they will cease their squalid, ineffective, primitive tribal lifestyle and social organization and become the equivalent of Minnesotans – organized, rational, intelligent, future-oriented thinkers.

It’s that kind of thinking that makes us get entangled in 3rd world hellholes.

Thug-ocracy-1

Dem-ocracy-nice try, no cigar

For Africa its the same old, same old. About ten millennia worth.

Limerick’s overall point is that the bloodbath should be as quick and effective as possible, and limit collateral damage. Sadly, even an academic knowledge of infantry platoon tactics cannot be absorbed overnight — and a practical level of knowledge would take even longer to instill.

Since only Mugabe’s thugs are armed at this point, probably the fastest way to enhance the “quick and effective” part of the resolution would be to airdrop arms. Specifically, arms that would be useful to a civilian population trying to defend itself against military-supported thugs. Shotguns come to mind.

Gimme a break. The only thing holding back the Zimbabweans is that they haven’t been given a field manual?

Hell, why don’t we drop leaflets about Jeffersonian democracy all over Africa! And don’t forget, “How to create an advanced, first world economy.” I’m sure we could whip some of those up right quick!

Idiot.

The problem is that Africa is a fundamentally dysfunctional continent, with a fundamentally dysfunctional population who wouldn’t know how to read, let alone interpret or apply an Army Field Manual.

Airdrop FM-7-8 (Infantry platoon tactics) across the country.

Day two will take care of itself.

No. That cesspit is not worthy of American blood. Self-immolation is its future. Let nature take its course.

LimeyGeek on June 23, 2008 at 10:26 AM

Yep. I hope we learned our lesson on that. However, I suspect if Obama gets in, the U.N. will suddenly decide to get involved using primarily U.S. resources, and Barry will think that would be proper use of our military. Same for Darfur.

Wanderlust on June 23, 2008 at 10:31 AM

Malaria is natural though. DDT is a foul poison, lining the pockets of corporate fat-cats with blood-soaked dollars.

Just A Grunt on June 23, 2008 at 10:29 AM

Hell, Carter and pal Andrew Young birthed the Mugabe bloodbath regime, as I recall.

JiangxiDad on June 23, 2008 at 10:08 AM

Yeah, what he said, which is not that much different from how liberals/environmentalists wept no tears over the global ban of DDT for decades – because the deaths of 50 million people per year in Africa added up to a tidy means of de facto population control on the poorest continent.

Not that the political left ever believed in population control, no, not them…

Zimbabwean Presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of the race yesterday following President Robert Mugabe’s continuing reign of terror during that country’s Presidential election.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai quit Zimbabwe’s …

Send in the Marines.

Akzed on June 23, 2008 at 9:32 AM

No. That cesspit is not worthy of American blood. Self-immolation is its future. Let nature take its course.

lorien1973 on June 23, 2008 at 10:00 AM

I assume you are being sarcastic. On the off chance you’re not, remember that liberals have different expectations for those they secretly believe to be inferior.

Mugabe is a black African, and thus not to be judged or held to the same standards as civilized people. It’s an enlightened point-of-view.

The liberals and the UN are strangely quiet about this.

Unbelievable!

They seem blind to the fact that White farmers and the Rhodesian government prior to his dictator/guerrilla takeover had made the country one of the most prosperous in Africa.
wepeople on June 23, 2008 at 9:32 AM

No. They are making sure their viewers are blind. (Kenya and S. Africa are on a similar road.)

Send in the Marines.

Akzed on June 23, 2008 at 9:32 AM

Insanity. What exactly do you think will happen once the Marines roll in? Mugabe’s thugs will scatter, he will flee the country, and then we’ll be responsible for making sure the new guy doesn’t descend into a brutal thugocracy as well, which he is likely to do.

I guess the rest of the world doesn’t care enough to do anything abut it.