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

To: Raymond Duray who wrote (7628)	10/26/2001 7:15:55 AM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 281500

Hi Ray - you won't be at all surprised that I have a different point of view. I am very, very, very happy that it's Bush, not Gore. A lot of people feel that way. My mother, for one, who is a lifelong Democrat. The Washington Post had an article about it in the last week or so. I think that the current crisis was in the works for many years, and probably would not have occurred if Clinton had handled things differently, but I don't really feel like arguing about it, because there are a lot of things that have been done over decades that probably should have been done differently - I've got problems with things done under Eisenhower, Kennedy (big time!), Johnson (the worst, IMO), Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton. I might have problems with Ford but can't think of any right now. Did I tell you that I am encouraging my boys to consider internships at CIA or NSA as soon as they are eligible? They both really want to do it, too. Here in my home town CIA and NSA are the guys next door. I used to have a neighbor who worked for the CIA. He was a really nice person, a great neighbor. I've had clients who worked for CIA, NSA, and various private companies that have contracts. Lots of people with security clearances. They're just ordinary people. I don't think they want you to shut up. Making the world safe for you to vent undisturbed is what they're about. I think these organizations, like all governmental institutions, are subject to the will of the people, and it's important for us to clearly formulate that will. These guys are career civil servants, and we all know what that means. They are well-intentioned, but they also care about getting ahead, covering their rears, and that whole bit. The pay isn't great 'til you get to GS 15 and SES, then it's pretty good but nothing compared to what they could make in private industry. It's nothing like you see on TV or in the movies. To the extent that they do things that we don't want them to do because they think they know better than we do - well, that's a problem. Unfortunately, they probably do know what we need better than we do. They need to talk to us, and we need to listen. What they are saying is that 911 would not have happened if we had stronger intelligence.

To: Raymond Duray who wrote (7628)	10/26/2001 9:05:20 AM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 281500

BTW, loved the Friedman piece, especially this part - "Israel is with us provided we never question the lunacy of 7,000 Israeli colonial settlers living in the middle of a million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip." nytimes.com We really, really, really need to consider whether we should keep sending Israel $3 billion a year. Has anyone sat down with a calculator to see what we spend every year so we can keep getting oil from the Middle East? Let's see. The US consumes 17 billion gallons of gasoline a year. We import 50% of our oil, so that's 7 1/2 billion. We give Israel $3 billion. We give Egypt $2 billion. us-israel.org I have no idea what our own defense costs are in the Middle East, but we've got troops in Kuwait, and we maintain the no-fly zones over Iraq. What are we really paying for "cheap gas"?