Are the Americans This Stupid?

There is widespread talk these days, perhaps even among political analysts, to the effect that Americans are stupid. This is not in reference to the American people, of course — they mean the American government, whether Republican or Democrat. In this context, the description applies to American intelligence, national security advisors, large corporations and the American armed forces, with all its soldiers and apparatuses. This also includes American centers of study and research. As long as all these places contract with American governments or work officially in their halls of political decision, they will contribute (after in-depth perusal of all or most of what touches the decision, nearly or remotely) to the generation and implementation of all those details of the American political will, especially in regard to the future of American interests and American national security.

Many make this judgment based on facts that provide contradictions rather than support. For example, America is presently the greatest world power economically, technologically and in terms of its presence in the world. American power resides within the heart of the European continent and on all of that continent’s borders, and it is responsible for drawing up the latest map of the Balkans. America is the one who got Russia into the World Trade Organization, moving it from a state economy towards a market economy. America lurks inside Japan with its nuclear presence and has the longest arm in the Security Council. America blockades North Korea and still has bases in stubborn communist Cuba. Latin America is still its southern zone and general living area. It is the true power behind the military, economy and general security of what they used to call the “Zionist entity,” and they say that it is the one that planned to strike at the Seven Tigers. There are many more examples.

So are these facts signs of stupidity or cleverness?

If Obama was stupid to withdraw from Iraq, I wonder if Bush was also stupid when he decided to invade Iraq. And if the Americans were stupid to create the Taliban movement in order to get rid of communist rule in Afghanistan, were they also stupid when they got rid of the very same Taliban government and replaced it with Karzai’s government, which is suffering from so much weakness and obvious fragility? If Obama was stupid to withdraw from Iraq, is he also stupid when his administration decided to internationalize the Libyan crisis and participate seriously in bringing about the end of Qaddafi’s government once and for all? And if America was stupid to announce its support for the Shiites of Bahrain — even via the media — was it also stupid when it decided to stand up to al-Qaida with Abdullah Saleh and to work in tandem with his opponents in order to overthrow him and drive him out of the country? If America was stupid in its peremptory positions in the latest resolution with Israel against the Palestinians, was it also stupid not to get directly involved in Somalia’s tribal conflict? And if America was stupid to demand that the Egyptian military respect the people’s will and the need for change, is it also stupid not to support the internationalization of the Syrian crisis now? Since internationalization has been affirmed and is likely, has it committed an even worse stupidity? Is America really stupid to unreservedly support the International Tribunal in Lebanon, where it is oblivious to the immense power and political and economic capabilities of Hezbollah? Finally, is it extremely stupid to confront the Iranian project diplomatically and not militarily?

But what came over Bush Jr. that prevented him from learning a lesson from Bush Sr.’s mistake, and what came over Obama that he didn’t learn a lesson from Bush Jr.’s mistake? Where are the centers of American strategic decision-making? Are they oblivious or inattentive to all these truly surprising strategic errors? Did America really offer to help the Islamic Republic bring down the Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein in Iraq? Is America’s decision to build a missile shield in Turkey stupid, even overwhelmingly idiotic? One is hard-put to explain how America is still practically the leader of the united world when it has done all these disgracefully foolish things!

American stupidity will simply put all of Iraq’s oil into Iran’s pocket. This stupidity will put an area stretching from Tehran to Baghdad, from Damascus to Beirut and reaching all the way to Palestine’s Gaza Strip, into Iran’s domain.

American stupidity will create a compact Shiite landscape starting in Bahrain, reaching toward al-Hasa and al-Qatif, to complicate the central Sunni presence in the Gulf. The heart of this presence is embodied by Bahrain’s Sunni government; Bahrain is a Sunni country that is considered to be the Sunni conscience of the world, at the very least. American stupidity will repudiate the intense character of its own unconditional support for Qatar, a very, very small country and the biggest player in the wave of the Arab Spring. American stupidity will let Iran produce its nuclear bomb as a result of the American laxity exhibited in engaging the Iranian nuclear project. Then no one will stand up for Israel. All the Gulf countries will kneel to Iran, and America will lose its biggest source of oil!

Does this make sense?

The question is: Who is responsible for this American stupidity?

The rulers, the foundations and research centers, the intelligence agencies, the political parties or the multinational corporations?

Is there anyone who would dare to say that it’s America that wants this chaos, with all its factions, problems and troubles?

I don’t know.

I don’t despair of everything in this life, but I really don’t know.