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

To: Karen Lawrence who wrote (52924)	10/18/2002 2:33:01 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 281500

Zinni stressed the need to get the Israeli-Palestinian peace process back on track, build a broad coalition against Iraq, create trust among allies in the region -- and put Saddam Hussein's threat in perspective. Get the "peace process" back on track? With Arafat still in place, a man whom Zinni himself called "il capo di tutti capi", and Iran and Iraq both fanning the flames? Zinni is contradicting his own past statements here.

To: Karen Lawrence who wrote (52924)	10/19/2002 2:33:49 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Respond to of 281500

I'm not convinced we need to do this now. I am convinced that we need to deal with Saddam down the road, but I think that the time is difficult because of the conditions in the region and all the other events that are going on. I believe that he can be deterred and is containable at this moment. As a matter of fact, I think the containment can be ratcheted up in a way that is acceptable to everybody. Geezus... Gen. Zinni was globe trotting all over the Arab world and rubbing elbows with all the non-democratic Arab leaders in the region and all he has to offer is to "delay the inevitable"??? How long do we delay?? We've been delaying for the past 12 years.. "containing" Saddam by having our pilots shot at on almost a daily basis. I'm ALL FOR INSPECTIONS.. But I have no illusions about Saddam's willingness to cooperate. But cooperate he must.. or face the consequences which WE MUST BE WILLING AND ABLE to execute.. namely regime change. Delay is no longer an acceptable option. Nothing is going to change for the better.. It's only going to get worse as the demographic situation puts increasing pressure on these authoritarian/totalitarian governments in the region. Being so corrupt, they don't know how to improve the economic lives of their people, and they have the "safety net" of living in Europe or elsewhere when their eventual downfall occurs. Zinni clearly stated that Saddam must be dealt with "down the road".. But I believe he's ignoring the fact that the demographic timebomb will continue to tick whether he wants it to or not... What's needed is a Marshall Plan for the middle east, where economic and social assistance comes with the "price" of political diversity, economic opportunity, and social and religious moderation. Saddam should have been "dealt with" when it was discovered that he had lied about possessing WMDs. But there was no political impetus for such a policy... But since 9/11, we have the political and societal will to deal with him and forever alter the political and economic landscape in the Middle East. If we don't take on this mission NOW, we might as well just disengage from the world and hide behind our oceanic "moats" in Fortress America. Of course, we now know that our sanctuary is not nearly as secure as we once perceived it to be.. And we can't disengage since they the Islamic militants won't let us. I have no doubt that once they gain access to nuclear or biological weapons, they will use them against us in a manner that will have no clear fingerprints as to who supplied them. We'll "create trust" on our terms, not those of unelected kings and sheikhs.. And we'll create it by giving the average Arab a far better economic outlook than they currently possess. Hawk