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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: samim anbarcioglu who wrote (5453)	10/16/2001 11:16:04 AM
From: HG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Ummm....I am not disagreeing with what you say Samim. My point is, during emergencies, especially during war, our leadership has special responsibility of conducting themselves with dignity and handling their allies with dignity and respect. The biggest mistake which US made during the Desert Storm was to demonise the Iraqi leader. It brought Bush a lot of cheers and accolades at home, but aggrevated the problem. My solution is, try to condemn the problem, not the person. You don't want to make the person any more vindictive than he already is. I personally never thought Saudi was a US ally. But US pubic and govt obviously did. Its a responsibility of people of America to make sure that in this crutial time, we preserve their respect in their home countries. We help them justify this war to their already agitated pubic. Saudi, indeed most of Asia and Middle East is a very different place than US. The rulers, the presidents and the officials are usually revered. They are father figures. Unlike in US and the Western societies, the leaders are not there as a part of a paid job. They are father figures. And it doesn't do anyone any good to tarnish their image in their own country....diplomacy is tough, like walking on eggshells. Thats why US comes across as arrogant. Tel me, apart from the Kudos from the American public, what good do you think came out of the act ? Didn't it break more than it built ? As to how it should have been handled ? The cheque should have been returned quietly. The conversation could have been held privately. Wouldn't that be more effective ? It could have been leaked to the media after a few days, in a slow, irrelevant fashion. We're not a society of apes who should be encouraged to go around beating our chests. We should learn to make our behaviours consistent with what we want to achieve.