He is Not Worth It

Recently, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has become the darling of both Democrats, Joe Biden has called for giving him another billion dollars of the tax payers’ money, Republicans, John McCain’s top foreign policy advisor was a paid lobbyist for him, and perhaps most importantly the main stream media, most of whom accept uncritically just about everything he says. Now would be a good time to remember that at one time Saddam Hussein received the same kind of treatment, esteem, and billions, from the same parties and information sources.

The two leaders, Saakashvili and Hussein, certainly seem to share many of the same ideas about governing. Neither would tolerate a free press or peaceful demonstrations and both have used a brutal prison system, inclined towards torture, to secure power. In The Jewish Daily Forward Kathleen Peratis calls into question the keystone of the mass media’s narrative, that Georgia is a Democracy. She reports that, “in response to these events, Saakashvili called a snap election for January 2008, which the opposition alleges he stole through voter intimidation and media dominance.”

We must ask ourselves are the aims of Saakashvili, who committed the first acts of violence in this latest confrontation, really worth restarting the Cold War? Do we seriously want our children to be subject to duck and cover drills again and to live every day with the knowledge and fear that the world could be destroyed at any instant?

Cross posted on The Trebach Report