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 : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (25732)	8/1/2006 5:34:19 PM
From: Dale Baker	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 541872

Doing nothing would be a serious mistake. Criticizing a grandiose policy almost always draws this retort. It's often a rhetorical device to take attention away from the excess zeal of the grandiose policy. I'll assume that was not your intent. The US supported spreading democracy around the world for 55 years or more before Bush, Jr. appeared on the scene. It is not a novel or untested idea. Democracy programs were one part of a broader diplomatic program to encourage better behavior. We just didn't try to "liberate" whole countries and reinvent them in our own image if we had a problem with their prior behavior. As for Al Qaeda, you catch what you can, protect all you can and then use the power of positive persuasion to create a better image that doesn't invite more AQ-type attacks. Clearly, invading and transforming every potential AQ haven is a fool's errand. Capturing every AQ member and ending their organization will never happen. So the final answer is a middle course that doesn't draw cheers from the cheap seats, but just might be a sustainable policy. Our current track is not.