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The United States has a failed foreign policy in the ME. But before U Democrats jump for joy, the American failure has nothing to do with either political party. It is a systemic failure which neither party can get ahold of and grasp.

For over 50 years each succeding administration has kept the lid on the ME and Central Asia. The West has done it through supporting represive regimes, turning a blind eye to the violation of human rights. As a result of this policy there has risen a religious fundlementalism to opose this represion. This fundlmentalism holds no nation state or material goods as it's rallying point but a religious belief. This religious belief is intangible in nature you can't touch it you ccan't count it . Yet people are willing to die in it's cause.

In the United States we are a society of the quantifable. Our military and intelligence agencies all have been programed to fight wars where materialy achievable goals could be used as a measure of success. If you take and hold that hill, he have had a success, and if you take enough hills you have won the war. The Vietnamese war was the first time the US encountered a war of the ideological vs the quantifiable. Yet even in Vietnam the fight was about territory and consequently Nationalism and self determination. The war against terrorism knows no boundaries and operates on a global scale. It is much more a will of wisp thing a war of the intangiable.

The problem facing the USA in prosecuting the war against terrorism is how do you fight a war of intangibles when your programed to fight a war of the material. How do you measure success, how do you budget for for fighting the intangible of religious belief. . The US invasion of Iraq was an attempt to fight terrorism on a material level and gave short shift to the intangible aspects. while the US may hold the ground, put a government in place that may last 100 years. In the eyes of the Muslims through out the world it has caused any sympathy for the US cause to dwindle. It has caused the more moderate in the Muslim world who were willing to give America the benfit of the doubt to now look upon America in the pejorative. So where the US may have captured 10 terrorists there were a 1000 to follow, now after Iraq 10,000 to follow. This has become the reality of 2001. An ungoing festering wound, which will sap the lives, treasure and possibly in time the will of America to resist.