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

To: KyrosL who wrote (98361)	5/15/2003 1:19:57 PM
From: Sig	Respond to of 281500

Here is one way to put pressure on Nations that can do or should do more to prevent terrorists from passing though or living in their country- cut off the tourist trade. story.news.yahoo.com Sig

To: KyrosL who wrote (98361)	5/15/2003 1:26:27 PM
From: Jacob Snyder	Respond to of 281500

re Afghanistan: <It's what happens when you have ideologues running Washington.> Actually, I think the problem is, they are not acting on their own ideology. The NeoCon ideology is clearly stated in numerous position papers by the AEI, and speeches by Bush Admin people. It says that the way to make the U.S. safe, is to establish freedom and democracy in failed states, and that is the only way to end support for terrorism. I actually agree with that, I just think the methods they are using, have no chance of achieving the stated goals. And I find abundant evidence of this, in history (including recent history). The problem here is, the Administration is doing Crisis Management instead of Nation Building. If they truly believed their own ideology, they would (in Afghanistan, and Iraq), spend the dollars and lives necessary to implement their program. But, in Afghanistan, and now it looks like in Iraq as well, they are acting as if the job is done, the minute Regime Change happens. With Regime Change, we are willing to make an open-ended unlimited committment, to bring to bear whatever resources are necessary, to make it happen. With Nation Building, the committment is far, far less. So, we win the war and lose the peace.

To: KyrosL who wrote (98361)	5/15/2003 8:20:03 PM
From: Dennis O'Bell	Respond to of 281500

The Afghanistan situation is such a heartbreaker. And all because we are refusing to spend a few billion to build a credible national army and extend Kabul authority to the provinces. I don't know exactly how much is being spent or what the exact situation really is, but don't believe it's so simple as spending a few billion. Who would staff this army ? How would we find enough reliable people at any price ? And if we did, it would be ridiculed as neocolonialism, because that's in effect what it really will take to turn a country like Afghanistan around. The internals of the country are in such a state that there really is no other alternative at this point. Many outside people would have to be used in the management of such an army. Mind you, with the literally billions we give every year to a hostile state like Egypt to prop up Mubarek's regime, and the cost of the Iraq military campaign (not to mention what was similarly spent in Afghanistan), finding the few billion should be the least of our worries. To what extent are the military dollar cost figures for real anyway ?