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

To: stockman_scott who wrote (43003)	9/10/2002 11:50:00 AM
From: Sam	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Thanks for posting Kerry's piece. While it doesn't break new analytic ground, it is eminently sensible, balanced and wise--something frequently lacking both in the Administration rants and Congressional comments. Kerry isn't demagogic like so many others. So far, of the Democratic presidential contenders, he gets my vote. <<The administration's hasty war talk makes it much more difficult to manage our relations with other Arab governments, let alone the Arab street. It has made it possible for other Arab regimes to shift their focus to the implications of war for themselves rather than keep the focus where it belongs -- on the danger posed by Saddam and his deadly arsenal. Indeed, the administration seems to have elevated Saddam in the eyes of his neighbors to a level he would never have achieved on his own. There is, of course, no question about our capacity to win militarily, and perhaps to win easily. There is also no question that Saddam continues to pursue weapons of mass destruction, and his success can threaten both our interests in the region and our security at home. But knowing ahead of time that our military intervention will remove him from power, and that we will then inherit all or much of the burden for building a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, is all the more reason to insist on a process that invites support from the region and from our allies for that far tougher mission of ensuring a future democratic government after the war. The question is not whether we should care if Saddam remains openly scornful of international standards of behavior that he agreed to live up to. The question is how we secure our rights with respect to that agreement and the legitimacy it establishes for the actions we may have to take. >>