Rushdie Criticizes US Policy

Salman Rushdie has criticized US foreign policy! Let us pause for a moment as I catch my breath. Rushdie whose only major accomplishment in his lengthy literary career has been to race to the protective embrace of the very government and system that he had tirelessly disparaged after raising Ayatollah Khomeini's ire. I never wanted anything to happen to Mr. Rushdie, but I could not forget or forgive his paen to the Sandinistas, The Jaguar Smile. So when the Iron Lady, whom he had criticized incessantly, shielded him from potential assassins I could not help but note the sweet irony.

Rushdie's criticisms are hardly original and seem to be drawn from leftover talking points from Kerry/Edwards 2004. We are encouraging terrorism, we are going it alone blah, blah, blah. On the former we have made some progress and if the Iraqi government holds and we can leave we may actually reduce the threat of terrorism. Let those aimless, over-educated (in their own way), under utilized youth take out their frustrations on those that rule them and not on us. On the going alone bit some progress has been made but much more work needs to be done. In Iraq we are going to be that much more alone. On Lebanon and Darfur we have worked better with others although Darfur needs a great deal more assistance than we have provided.