"Bush’s invasion and occupation of Iraq was also often advertised as a civilizing mission, as though Mesopotamia had not given us so many of the basic elements of civilization, including the Code of Hamurabbi and astronomy"
That was a long, long time ago though. Had Saddam's militaristic Sunni dictatorship generated Noble Peace Prize winners and discovered exoplanets then perhaps the Bush administration would have not used that phrase.
"Bush’s invasion and occupation of Iraq was also often advertised as a civilizing mission, as though Mesopotamia had not given us so many of the basic elements of civilization, including the Code of Hamurabbi and astronomy"
That was a long, long time ago though. Had Saddam's militaristic Sunni dictatorship generated Noble Peace Prize winners and discovered exoplanets then perhaps the Bush administration would have not used that phrase.
Libya was a highly successful country? Why did it fall to pieces so quickly after the strongman Gaddafi was gone?
That NYT article was credible. It was written by Carlotta Gall, who wrote an excellent book on the Pakistan-Taliban connection, "The Wrong Enemy".