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

To: E who wrote (113210)	8/28/2003 7:13:41 PM
From: Jacob Snyder	Respond to of 281500

re: "If we gave those troops another division or two, they wouldn’t turn us down,” Clark said. "If you give the people a choice between a Republican and a Republican, they'll choose a Republican every time." - Harry Truman

To: E who wrote (113210)	8/29/2003 1:44:27 PM
From: Bilow	Respond to of 281500

Hi E; Clark's got the same basic problem that Bush had, too much testosterone. He's too sure of himself, and he's too sure that military force can solve the problem. I have no doubt that, as far as future foreign adventures go, Bush has been castrated. (And it's pretty obvious that Iran and North Korea think so too.) So I'm not too worried about what Clark would have done back in January. The problem is what he would do in the future. To extract ourselves from Iraq early (i.e. before the guerilla war begins in earnest) will require a politician to stand up and admit that (a) we went there under false pretenses, (b) we have no ability to control the country, and (c) we would like whatever local power is interested to assist in the reformation of an Iraqi government of any sort whatsoever. I don't see Bush doing this, but I don't see Clark doing it either. Republicans can get away with declaring peace, but Democrats get punished for it. Reagan could negotiate with the Russians. Nixon could cut a deal with China and pull our troops out of Vietnam. But when Carter agreed to give the canal back to Panama, and decided (wisely) not to start an unwinnable war against the Iranian nut cases, he was castigated as a wimp. So it's not at all obvious to me that a Democrat in general, or Wesley Clark in particular, would result in a better foreign policy, given that we've already broken open the hornet's nest. -- Carl