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

To: michael97123 who wrote (151888)	11/17/2004 11:18:14 PM
From: Michael Watkins	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

The problem with holding the Sword of Damocles over holy sites, or whole peoples, is that if this hair-thin deterrent fails (or is exploited by an unscrupulous other and there are many who might want to try), many millions may be the victims, and probably as many will become new Bin Ladens. Fighting threat with threat might work against a nation-state but is completely unlikely to work against a roaming band of terrorists. Peer pressure, in the long run, may work. Bush has placed a big bet that forcing feeding democracy will result in some sort of ever expanding harmony that will one day encompass the entire Middle East and deliver the peer pressure needed. He's bet that the root cause of all terrorism is lack of democracy and "freedom" (I hate that the word has been turned into a cliche). He's bet that democracy and freedom can be force fed to a colonialized Iraq. As you know, I don't think much of this plan, and I don't think that the problem can possibly be as one-sided as is commonly portrayed. The temptation, no, the long-established pattern for "us" is to always look at others as the source of problems. Since rarely can any complex problem, especially where humans are concerned, be wholly one sided, I must accept as reality that all sides of this conflict, including us, bear responsibility. There's zero talk of our responsibility and complicity in all this, and because of that - and unless or until this changes - I do not forsee a positive outcome, not now and not ever.