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To: Elroy who wrote (66212)	9/12/2004 4:57:13 PM
From: RetiredNow	Respond to of 77400

Different strategies for different countries. If a country has a government that is not hostile to Americans, then we don't need to use the military option. For instance, with Saudi Arabia, our intense pressure on them to reform has result in their announcement of municipal elections in January and March. In addition, they have been hunting down the terrorists and either killing or arresting them. In addition, they have been reforming their educational system to move away from Wahabiism. So the political pressure is working. It would be folly to attack Saudi Arabia. In Qatar, although they have a King, they have an elected council and women have the right to vote. The average citizen is quite well off compared to other Arabs. So they are much less anti-Western and focused more on their own improving lifestyles. They are getting more an more liberal, especially now that they have close ties to the U.S. Naval forces in the area. So to attack Qatar would be folly. In Kuwait, they have very close ties to the U.S. militarily. Economically, they are in the process of privatizing most of their industries as a way to diversify outside of oil production and to create jobs for their young people. In one poll I saw on Kuwaitis, they were in favor of the invasion of Iraq. Kuwait pledged $1.5 B to reconstruct Iraq and provided $350 M in oil to help us during our invasion of Iraq. Kuwait has a parliament and a national assembly. They are one of the more progressive Arab states. So again, it would be folly to attack Kuwait. Yes, I believe that the policy of containment of the bad guys in the Middle East has failed. The new policy needs to be active engagement to bring democracy and freedom to the region. But we have alot of tools in the bucket. For countries like Syria, we may very well have to use the military option, if they don't stop actively supporting terrorism. For countries like Iran, a war could be very costly in lives and in money. In addition, the people of Iran are actually very western-minded. They are just held hostage by the clerics, like the Ayatollah Khomenie who hold absolute power over all other branches of government. So frankly, we are in an excellent strategic position in the Middle East now. There really are just two main problem countries left, Iran and Syria. Both are active sponsors of worldwide terrorism. So if we can stay the course in Afghanistan and Iraq, 10 years from now, we may have 2 more allies in the Middle East that can continue to help us by being our staging ground for any other ongoing operations in the area. Of course, there are plenty of problems in Africa, but that's another story. So the U.S. posture should be to pressure non-democratic, but friendly nations, to move towards accountability to the people as quickly as possible. But towards countries who are actively hostile to us and sponsor terrorism aimed at us, we should pursue an aggressive diplomacy to get our ends and if those fail, then pull the trigger on the millitary option. Iraq had 10 years to come clean, yet time ran out. Afghanistan had plenty of warning to hand over Osama, yet they chose a different path. Syria has now had 2 years of steady warnings. If they fail to oust Hamas and Hizbullah leaders from their countries and fail to stop sponsoring cross-border terrorism into Israel and Iraq, then they should face the military option as well. If Iran fails to come clean on their nuclear ambitions, then we should also consider the military option to destroy all their nuclear facilities.