Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rick Faurot who wrote (31221)	11/9/2003 11:33:00 AM
From: Karen Lawrence	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

"Bush challenges the Middle East to stop torturing people unless it's for American Intelligence purposes." www.thenation.com It was billed as a major presidential address. Speaking on the 20th anniversary of the National Endowment for Democracy, George W. Bush articulated a vision of democracy across the Middle East. He spoke of a "freedom deficit," one with "terrible consequences, of [sic] the people of the Middle East and for the world." He traced this freedom deficit to the end of "the colonial era," which in its wake left "the establishment of many military dictatorships. Some rulers adopted the dogmas of socialism, seized total control of political parties and the media and universities. They allied themselves with the Soviet bloc and with international terrorism. Dictators in Iraq and Syria promised the restoration of national honor, a return to ancient glories. They've left instead a legacy of torture, oppression, misery, and ruin." Inspiring stuff. (Although technically Saddam was allied with the United States back then and not the Soviets.) My only question: If Syria stops torturing people, whose gonna do the torture for us? (See yesterday's post.) Will our new friends the Uzbeks step up -- the boiling- people-alive thing sounds promising -- or will we just do it ourselves down in Gitmo, or what? I'd just like a heads-up.

To: Rick Faurot who wrote (31221)	11/9/2003 3:22:07 PM
From: Rick Faurot	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Democratic Lawmaker Calls for Summit on Iraq Sun November 9, 2003 12:31 PM ET (Page 1 of 2) By Lori Santos WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top U.S. Senate Democrat urged President Bush on Sunday to call a summit on Iraq seeking international troops and assistance in exchange for a greater say in operations. Speaking after a week in which 33 American soldiers were killed, Sen. Joseph Biden, joined by a number of other Democrats, said U.S. policy in Iraq was foundering and it was time for Washington to cede control in Iraq. "It's time to make a fundamental shift in the way in which we are going about trying to win the peace here," Biden, a Delaware Democrat, told ABC's "This Week" program. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, a Democratic presidential candidate, insisted: "We have to change course." "The problem is the president ... is completely unwilling to relinquish control. That's the critical thing that is missing from this process," Edwards said on NBC's "Meet the Press." And Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, told "Fox News Sunday," "We're going to have to give up some of the control that we have in Iraq, and that's what's being considered right now, finally." Biden, the ranking Democrat on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Bush must change gear and appeal for international assistance by ceding U.S. control in post-war Iraq, where insurgents have now killed 150 American soldiers since the Republican president declared major combat over on May 1. "It entails the president, literally, not figuratively, calling a summit with our European friends and saying, 'Look, we got to make three changes,"' Biden said. Security should be turned over to a NATO-led force, and a high commissioner appointed like the one that helped Bosnia recover from its 1992-95 ethnic war, not necessarily an American, reporting to NATO and the U.N. Security Council, Biden said. CHANGES IN GOVERNING COUNCIL Third, the United States should "make changes" in the U.S.-appointed Governing Council in Iraq, he added, pointing to a report in The Washington Post on Sunday that said U.S. officials were considering alternatives to the Council to ensure the U.S.-led administration could hand over power as troops are withdrawn. Continued ... reuters.com