I Like Ornery Women

I like ornery women.No surprise, then that I’ve always harbored a soft spot for (the late) Jeanne Kirkpatrick, neocon doyenne and truculent apologist for American overseas adventurism. Her barely-concealed contempt for the rest of the sentient universe was driven at least in part by her conviction that she was probably a whole lot harder-working and better-informed than they were, especially the yapping political jackals who can’t tell Shias from Sunnis. I’ve always believed she meant it when she said she was looking for ways to advance democracy and civil society. Yet I’ve always felt she was a good deal closer to the truth than her caricaturists would have it: of course we consort with dictators, and of course some dictators are better than others. Every administration knows that, even if most try to find some way to gloss it over.

Now here she is in her soon-to-be published posthumous memoir:

Iraq lacked practically all the requirements for a democratic government: rule of law, an elite with a shared commitment to democratic procedures, a sense of citizenship, and habits of trust and cooperation. The administration's failure involved several issues, but the core concern is that they did not seem to have methodically completed the due diligence required for reasoned policy-making because they failed to address the aftermath of the invasion. This, of course, is reflected by the violence, sectarian unrest, ethnic vengeance and bloodshed we see in Iraq today.

[Lifted from Sic Semper Tyrannis (link)]

And this:

Iraq lacked practically all the requirements for a democratic government: rule of law, an elite with a shared commitment to democratic procedures, a sense of citizenship, and habits of trust and cooperation. The administration's failure involved several issues, but the core concern is that they did not seem to have methodically completed the due diligence required for reasoned policy-making because they failed to address the aftermath of the invasion. This, of course, is reflected by the violence, sectarian unrest, ethnic vengeance and bloodshed we see in Iraq today.

[Lifted from David Corn in The Nation (link)]

She’ll get beat up on good and plenty for keeping silent then more than for speaking out now (see links above and link, link; cf. link). Fair enough, but an idea has a truth value independent of the person who embraces it, and it is refreshing to hear her sharp and pointed assessment even now.