[RickC]

What's the point? That if we really want to end terrorism, and the hatred that is behind it, we must become a credible enforcer of human rights everywhere, not selectively. We have a horrible track record of looking the other way when "allies" or countries deemed insignificant to U.S. security engage in gross violations of human rights laws. This hurts our standing in the world immeasurably and sows the seeds of terrorism. Lastly, terrorism is not something that conventional military power is very effective in fighting, just look at Israel. Probably the most security consience place on earth, and the most terrorist attacks. (By a group w/ zero conventional military capability).


In the largest sense, our new foreign policy remains unproven. It’s unclear if we can - or should try - to liberate a beaten down and terrorized country like Iraq.

I suppose it’s not out of the question that Bush has moved for all the wrong, twisted, greedy, oil-soaked reasons. And I suppose it’s certain that there are some liars and cheats in high places in the U.S. Government. Despite all this, being in Iraq today DOES NOT prove that America’s new foreign policy is a sham, and that America is power-hungry and evil.

Think about what you are saying: How would things look if America decided to START enforcing human rights everywhere? How would things look if we decided to STOP looking the other way when our "allies" violated human rights?

Wouldn’t it look something like what we see today? Wouldn't we start by reversing long-held policies of "stability over liberty" and then engage ourselves in the most argumentative places on earth? Wouldn't we stop worrying about the opinions of the leaders who regularly supply us with oil but also routinely suppress their people? Wouldn't we put the long-simmering Palestinian question back on the table?
And wouldn't it be possible to explain America's long standing "neglect" of the region by noting that we had larger, more important and more pressing battles to fight for most of the last 55 years? That since the demise of the powerful Soviet dictatorship in Asia - a dictatorship which threatened US - that we are now finally free to go ahead and liberate OTHERS?

Couldn’t America’s new policy just as easily be trying to address all the smaller evils we once had to live with in order to keep the larger evil at bay? Don't all the realities we see today fit this explanation just as well?

The war in Iraq proves that we are changing our foreign policy - nothing more, nothing less.

Events themselves will soon prove whether we are trying to right past wrongs and aspire to our highest ideals, or instead trying to continue suffering around the globe in order to power our SUV’s. Whatever the outcome, a lesson will be learned from this war that will affect our foreign policy for a generation.

I for one believe that the vast majority of the tens of thousands of leaders and “bureaucrats" in the State Dept. and the Pentagon have their hearts in the right place. And that it is not just possible, but likely, that this push in Iraq is in earnest.
I may be wrong and events may prove this is very naive. But nothing conclusively tells me I am in error so far.

If our policy fails, I would bet on it failing due to the standard reasons of hubris or fuzzy thinking or just plain wrong-headedness, rather than to the fact that tens of thousands of loyal Americans in positions of authority in our government and military and media have been duped en masse in order to supply oil to a few rotund white men. That sort of simple paranoid fantasy is just not in keeping with the real nature of humanity.

To beat the terrorists long-term, you must address their legitimate grievances. To address these grievances you must reform and improve the governments of the region. And what is most likely to reform a government? Trade? Talk? Or the violent overthrow of a similar governement nearby? Revolutions of 1830 anyone?

Is this right? No.

Is it the way things work? Yes.

Do I wish there was another, more peaceful way? Yes.

Is this war worth it - worth the risk to right the wrongs of the region? We won't know until it's over.