Did Someone Say Historical Calamity?

Even though Zbigniew Brzezinski is a well respected foreign policy advisor and dignitary his latest anaylsis of the Iraq war should be taken with a grain of salt, or for that matter a large spoonful of salt. Even though lambasting the Bush administrations handling of the war is the "new black" for former government officails, Brzezinski would have been better sitting this one out. Its not that Brzezinski's analysis is unfounded or has no merit, its that HE has no credibility.

Brzezinski cites the Bush administrations invasion and occupation of Iraq as a historic, strategic, and moral calamity and that it was driven by imperial hubris. The same can be said for his actions as National Security Advisor to President Carter while dealing the Soviet invasion and subsequent war in Afghanistan. In an interview with the French newspaper Le Nouvel Observateur in 1998, Brzezinski explains how he was able to set up an "Afghan trap" that would lure the Soviets into an invasion and create a vietnam-esque situation for Moscow. He also explains how he was able to presuade President Carter to beging funding for the Afghan mujahadien five months before the Soviet invasion.

Brzezinski was a strong opponent of the detente policy towards the Soviet Union and cared very deeply about the possibility of Eastern Europe being liberated from Soviet domination. Brzezinski was born in Poland and much of his early work and studies were dedicated to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.

The most striking qoute from the Le Nouvel Observateur interview was his response to a qustion regarding the rise of the Taliban:

Le Nouvel Observateur: And also, don't you regret having helped future terrorists, having given them weapons and advice?

Zbigniew Brzezinski: What is most important for world history? The Taliban or the fall of the Soviet Empire? Some Islamic hotheads or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?

Well unfortunatley those Islamic hotheads have more than likely supplanted the Soviets in the history books of a new generation of young Americans. Brzezinski own personal ambitions and global views helped ignite the global situation going on today. What he basically did was trade one international threat to the United States for another. But, with hindsight being 20/20 he, or anyone for that matter, would figure that it would come back and bite the US in the ass some twenty years later.

Perhaps only those that have "clean" international relation records should be allowed to have their opinions and criticisms received at the highest level. So, good luck finding someone that can fill that description.