Iraq And ADHD

Richard Cohen nails it in his latest op-ed.

Culpability Deficit Disorder: "This drug for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is sorely needed. ADHD explains why few seem to challenge the call to continue the mission in Iraq, apparently forgetting that the mission has changed and no one is quite sure what it is now. It explains why after just 100 hours the first President Bush concluded the Persian Gulf War with Saddam Hussein still in power and his helicopters slaughtering rebellious Shiites and Kurds. And it explains why the Carter, Reagan and first Bush administrations so ardently supported Hussein and then -- an administration later -- made it U.S. policy to topple him. We were always forgetting the kind of guy he was.

ADHD also explains why we are still fighting in Afghanistan almost five years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that launched the war against the Taliban. It's because our attention got diverted from the Afghanistan-based al-Qaeda, which had attacked us, to Iraq, which had not. Take two pills for this one.
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The first rule of warfare is kill your enemy -- or make sure, in some way, that he can no longer do you any damage. The first Bush administration ignored that rule with Saddam Hussein and now the second one has ignored it with Osama bin Laden. It allowed this mass murderer to escape, and he will come back to haunt us; it is what he lives for. Bin Laden does not suffer from ADHD."

Which is why I refer to him as Osama been Forgotten. Has anyone in this country considered the thought that he is laughing at us? At our hubris and incompetence? Our hubris in believing that we could force democracy on the world and our incompetence at achieving said goal? Exactly how have we made our country safer since 9/11, found the people responsible and brought them to justice, increased the standard of living for the people who make less than $100,000 in the United States, improved the lives of the Iraqi people, or engendered good will throughout the world? Short answer is that we haven't. We haven't accomplished a single goal except to prevent two people who love each other from getting married and to make it harder for a citizen in financial straits to get back on their feet. What a track record.

Even Mother Nature feels free to smack us around. Have you seen the Gulf Coast lately?

Pass the ritalin, indeed.

Tags: Richard Cohen, ritalin, ADHD, Iraq, Osama bin Laden, Bush