You don't have to convince me that Bush has been bad for this country. I'm already convinced of this and that is the main reason I'm considering voting for Kerry.
However, the thing that bothers me about Democrats in general is that as much as the Republicans often over emphasize threats to national security, I feel the Democrats under emphasize them.
Oh, come on........you are an intelligent, articulate person.........you can't be falling for this GOP nonsense. 'The GOP is strong on national security' is another one in a series of urban legends.......two others: the GOP is good for the stock market and the GOP is a positive for the GNP. All three have been disproved.
National security is only slightly better now than it was three years ago. Every other month we hear of an incident where someone got on a plane with box cutters or a knife on their person and/or luggage and never got caught. Our borders remain porous........I live near a border crossing........its common knowledge that you can cross with little fear of harassment. We are too big a country and too democratic to wall ourselves off. Even a small country like Israel can not pull it off. Strong national security is a wonderful concept in theory and a joke in practice.
Governments in the Middle East, Syria and Iran especially, are creating world chaos by their active support of global terrorism. Saddam was doing the same through his $10K reward to Palestinian families who had sons who blew themselves up, and his support of Zarqawi.
And we were doing the same in the 80s with our support of Saddam in his war with Iran. We and other western nations provided him with aid, components for WMDs, fighter planes, a nuclear reactor etc. Bush I indicated his approval of Saddam's invasion of Kuwait right up to the eve of our counter attack. Therefore its not a surprise that Syria and Iran are undermining the ME to counteract Western actions..........Iran esp. has good reason to work against us.
Those countries simply can't be allowed to get away with the mayhem they are causing and we know for a fact that the U.N. is completely ineffective and paralyzed when it comes to dealing with threats.
The US invasion of Iraq suggests that we too are ineffective. The ME is a difficult neighborhood and Americans can not begin to understand its dynamics. There was a person who used to post on this thread........an American based in the ME. He/she had an excellent understanding of ME politics and mores, and why our current efforts were ridiculous. I wish he/she still posted here.
Bush is clearly not good at rebuilding what he destroys, but frankly I'm not unhappy that he destroyed the Iraqi government and I wouldn't be unhappy if he did the same in Syria and Iran. If it gives the people in those countries a chance, even if it is a very small one, to somehow sieze their future and create a democracy, then I feel that it is worth it. It's only going to be through democracy that these nations will ever join the world community in a peaceful, productive way.
A recent report indicates that its very likely Iraq will revert to its former ways.......soon after civil war breaks out. Already, most of the Sunni territories are not under the jurisdiction of the current gov't. The Shia are biting at the bit. And the Kurds want more freedoms.
The ME is just not ready for democracy. There has to be some forethought.....some prior democratic experience......some desire on the part of the people......to make it happen. The ME is not there yet. Americans seem blind to this reality. |
