Do NOT talk to, negotiate with, or respect your enemy: A failed policy

[keithyboy]

If anything can be learned from 9/11 and the Iraqi invasion it should be that the stubborn, arrogant, and unwise policy to disrespect, demean, and refuse to negotiate with your enemy is a totally failed policy when dealing with leaders of non-western cultures. Libya should be an example. What finally brought Gaddafi to his current position to abandon WMDs and return to joining the table of nations was not bombs dropped on his head, nor was it the invasion of Iraq which the Bush administration is trying to make people believe. Gaddafi had been in negotiations (led by the UK) long before 9/11 and was asking only that the sanctions against his country be removed and that Libya be allowed to conduct the business of a sovereign nation. The US, bolstered by Blair's dealings with Libya (and an unspoken need for oil sources) negotiated with Gaddafi as a recognized leader of a sovereign nation...we did not invade Libya.

The same kind of approach could have been and should have been used with Saddam. Whether we like to admit it or not, Saddam had a reason for his marching into Kuwait (study the history about it). Desert Storm was not necessary, nor were the crippling sanctions imposed on Iraq. All this was done to protect the House of Saud and to set in motion a long desired policy by PNAC to topple Saddam and control the oil fields of Iraq. True negotiation was never tried directly with Saddam whose own megalamania might have been soothed had he been regarded and treated as the legitimate (though despised)head of state of a sovereign nation. The real reason for not having a peaceful solution to the Iraqi problem is that such a resolution would not have given the US control over the riches of Iraq. Plain and simple!

We are making the same mistake with the Israeli/Palestinian situation. And this is the second big mistake of our foreign policy. We simply ignore and count as unimportant the treatment of the Palestinains at the hands of Israel. We blindly and unapologetically support any and all actions taken by Israel against the Palestinians, including state-sponsored terrorism against Palestinian civilians and targeted assassinations of anyone Israel "claims" to be a terrorist leader.

We will never be able to live in peace again because of the unwise decision to invade Iraq. We have succeeded in sowing the seeds of generations of anti-Americanism. We will try but we will not be able to kill all the people who hate us. We will only succeed in getting more of our own children killed and uniting a formidable foe against us. We has thus far turned even most moserate, pro-American Muslims against us. AND STILL, OUR LEADERS DON'T GET IT!!! They keep saying that the Musims hate us because of "who we are" or "because they hate our freedom." How utterly ridiculous does that sound? Not quite as ridiculous though, as the Bush administration talking point "that who we are fighting in Iraq are people who want to RETURN to the brutal regime of Saddam and a totalitarian nation." Who in their right mind would believe that any people would want to live under brutality?

I see no way out for us because we keep making the same mistake. Instead of bringing Sadr to the table we have labeled him and his followers as "terrorists." An act that will surely result in making them terrorists. We had our chance with Sadr and blew it, just as we have done with Saddam, Sistani, and the Taliban quite frankly.

The two Bush administrations will go down in history as the most brutal, unwise, and failing administrations in US history. Remember, the terrorists attacks in the US under the Clinton administration was straigt BLOWBACK from Desert Storm and the Bush I policies. We just never take our enemies at their word and yet their words are the true message of why they hate us.

[sweetheart]

1. Its not very christian is it

A christian, might, without a gun, go to meet his enemy, and turn
the other cheek. If there was a genuine effort to bring these people
to the table, like northern ireland, it could be reduced to bigoted
media-venting and verbal fighting over political concerns, instead
of the military fighting across the planet.

It is like a couple that won't talk and rather only throw pots and
pans... its so silly, it really makes us look like schitzoid idiots.

[keithyboy]

2. It's deeper and much more serious than a couple's fight.

It's the very tone with which our foreign policy has been conducted since the Bush regime came into office. They literally swaggered into office bragging about how they were not going to continue the polices of the preveious administration. Therefore they gave the nod to Israel that the US would not interfere in anything they might do. They purposely dropped the N. Korean initiative and ignored the threat of domestic terrorism in favor of the BUSH DOCTRINE: build missile defense (so that all the major military corporations could make billions), draw up plans to invade Iraq and topple Saddam no matter what the excuse or the costs (so that we could get control of the oil and have a base to bolster Israel), AND REDUCE TAXES FOR THE VERY WEALTHY IN THIS COUNTRY (and thereby plunder the Federal coffers in order to cut back on social programs such as welfare, social security, and Medicare.) Now take a look at what is happening and you will see that the Bush administration has been very successful in getting its way.

[sweetheart]

5. preachin' to the choir, mate..

I live in the UK, and have seen first hand the incredible squandering
of american goodwill abroad by these irresponsible felons. Sadly, it
has come to this state of bullying, and it seems here to stay, just
cloaqued if the other half of the single-party neoliberal corporatists
comes in to power.. kerry.

The damage is, in some cases irreversable... its so terribly sad.

[keithyboy]

6. I fear you are correct. "The universe is unfolding as it should"

Humans have had long enough on this planet ...time to go!

[keithyboy]

3. Kick for a journalist whom I know lurks here around 4PM EST.

Hello, 'pokey.'

[keithyboy]

4. Pokey, are you out there? Please check in.

The folks here would love some inside dope on what is going on inside the WH. I know you have sources.