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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Powell v. Mugabe

Powell v. Mugabe

by John Cole|  June 24, 20036:39 pm| 14 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs

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Colin Powell has an excellent op-ed in the NY Times:

A brave man recently met with me and described how life in his country has become unbearable. “There is too much fear in the country, fear of the unknown and fear of the known consequences if we act or speak out,” explained Pius Ncube, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Yet Archbishop Ncube speaks out fearlessly about the terrible human rights conditions in Zimbabwe, and is threatened almost every day with detention or worse.

For hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans, the worst has already come. Millions of people are desperately hungry because the country’s once-thriving agricultural sector collapsed last year after President Robert Mugabe confiscated commercial farms, supposedly for the benefit of poor blacks. But his cynical “land reform” program has chiefly benefited idle party hacks and stalwarts, not landless peasants. As a result, much of Zimbabwe’s most productive land is now occupied by loyalists of the ruling ZANU-PF party, military officers, or their wives and friends.

Of course, the French are there to help. They are going to re-build Zimbabwe’s airlines!

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14Comments

  1. 1.

    MommaBear

    June 24, 2003 at 6:55 pm

    And of course, none of those ‘loyalists’, ‘military officers’, or ‘wives and friends’ knows a damn thing about farming, or is the least bit willing to lift a finger to produce food.

    BASTARDS, all of them.

  2. 2.

    Thlayli

    June 24, 2003 at 10:58 pm

    So when does “Operation Zimbabwean Freedom” start?

    Oh, that’s right. We only liberate brutal dictatorships that have oil.

  3. 3.

    Matthew

    June 24, 2003 at 11:05 pm

    Hey Thlayli, you must’ve been felt real good when the international community gave Mugabe a standing ovation during the World Summit on Sustainable Development. (The assembled UN delegations were applauding because Zimbabwe had no oil, of course.)

  4. 4.

    John Cole

    June 25, 2003 at 12:42 am

    I guess I am personally responsible for where we do and do not intervene.

    In case you were wondering, I am in favor of finishing the job in Haiti, taking out Cuba, romping through Africa, and, there is nary a Middle East Country I am willing to let stand still. Then we can work on East Asia.

    You are fucking with an interventionist here, buddy.

  5. 5.

    Dean

    June 25, 2003 at 7:57 am

    Well, Thlayli:

    First, we need the UN to inspect the country, thoroughly documenting all the issues. Better get that UNSC Resolution authorizing this first, though!

    Second, we should see what the masses in the United States say. Better check to see if ANSWER and company are holding protests or supporting rallies. This is a democracy after all, right?

    Third, since global opinion is so important, we should allow the EU to take the lead, providing air transport but otherwise only acting if asked. Sorta like the initial reaction to Kosovo and Bosnia.

    If we do this, can we expect accolades from you?

    Didn’t think so.

  6. 6.

    Jonas

    June 25, 2003 at 8:46 am

    I don’t think God has told Bush to intervene in Zimbabwe yet.

    http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=310788&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

    see last paragraph

  7. 7.

    John Cole

    June 25, 2003 at 8:51 am

    YEah, this part of the last paragraph was the most important:

    According to Abbas, immediately thereafter Bush said:

    I simply don;t remember all the derision of Jimmy Carter for being super religious. Maybe I just missed something.

  8. 8.

    Jonas

    June 25, 2003 at 9:36 am

    Did Jimmy Carter ever claim that God told him to do something?

  9. 9.

    Dean

    June 25, 2003 at 10:11 am

    Jonas,

    I don’t see Dubya claiming God told him to do something, either.

    Unless you’re prepared to say that you accept Abbas’ comment unequivocally?

    In which case, I have to wonder whether you drink all the OTHER kool-aid that the Palestinians generate. You know, the factually challenged stuff about little things like the Karine-A and the like?

  10. 10.

    Louis

    June 25, 2003 at 10:14 am

    Not that I remember, Jonas, and if you expect anyone other than the really dumb to believe Bush said something like that you will have to come up with a much better source than “According to Abbas…Bush said…

    About the only people that would believe such a comment is [maybe] the 3-5% of our citizens that have distorted thought processes similar to Michael Moore.

  11. 11.

    Louis

    June 25, 2003 at 10:15 am

    Not that I remember, Jonas, and if you expect anyone other than the really dumb to believe Bush said something like that you will have to come up with a much better source than “According to Abbas…Bush said…

    About the only people that would believe such a comment is [maybe] the 3-5% of our citizens that have distorted thought processes similar to Michael Moore.

  12. 12.

    Dean

    June 25, 2003 at 10:24 am

    Since this thread started about Mugabe, perhaps this suggests that Jonas believes that, in fact, the UK and the US are merely interested in re-asserting colonialism over Zimbabwe? After all, the PRESIDENT of that nation said so.

    ‘Course, then we’ll have to figger whether Jonas and Thlayli can see eye-to-eye about intervening, won’t we? Since, if we DO intervene, it’ll be for oil and colonies, and if we don’t, it’s because we’re callous and they DON’T have important assets.

    Oh well, time to just hand it over to the UN. Seein’ as how they’re doin’ well in Congo and all….

  13. 13.

    Thlayli

    June 25, 2003 at 11:12 am

    Nice sarcasm, Dean.

    All I’m saying is if your side is going to insist on retro-spinning the Iraq invasion into a mission of mercy, it’s a legitimate question as to why Iraq deserves such a mission and nowhere else.

  14. 14.

    Dean

    June 25, 2003 at 12:48 pm

    Nice non-answer, Thlayli.

    And all I’m saying is if your side is going to insist on multilateralism (defined as French and Russian acquiescence), respect for international law, and routing everything through the UN, then it’s a legitimate question as to why Zimbabwe does NOT deserve such consideration.

    Or is it that nations in Africa deserve fewer niceties of international law, and more neocolonialism?

    And the last time I checked, the Left keeps reminding us of the importance of WMD as a motivation. (That IS why you keep claiming Dubya lied, right?) So even you don’t buy that it was ALL about the mission of mercy.

    And YOU’re the one who brought up ooooiiiilllllll.

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