Letters to the Editor
Retired Military Patriot
Published Letters: 2236 Editor's Choice: 11
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Shooter shooters
[Read the article: Enforcing the community's foreign policy orthodoxy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I swore off responding to shooter and I will continue that stance. From time to time some responders have questioned who or what he or she is. One speculated that it is a bunch of frat boys. It might even be one of Glenn’s supporters or even Glenn himself. Shooter does stimulate interest and definitely adds to the number of responders. Those who converse with him, please tell him or her that I do learn new and exciting things from his attackers and for that I am grateful.
One thing that Glenn does very skillfully is to cause us to look at the character of all the war players and commenters. That is vital because it is motivation that gives us the best view besides the facts of who to believe and not believe. Presidential voters decide on character more than the issues. We have to make a careful examination of the character of any elected official, especially for the highest positions. We have found to our horror that the presidential team is as critical or more critical than the apparent leader.
Presidential character reveals itself during the campaign, on the job decisions and the role after. Just judging the post presidency role, look at what Jimmy Carter has done for world peace and Bill Clinton for Africa and tsunami victims. Junior’s father has also stepped up to some degree. When shooter or anyone else shoots at ex-leaders without taking into account motivations and character, he or she is shooting very shallow bullets.
I would urge us to debate with facts that so many do so excellently, but I also believe we have to use facts to judge the character of candidates in both parties. I like a lot about Barack Obama yet I keep looking for insights into him and other Democratic candidates true character. GOP spinners very skillfully tell their character story through words, image and dirty tricks and attack opponents’ character in and outside their party. I studied daddy and junior’s character and found daddy did have some humane character traits, not going to Baghdad for instance, that have shown themselves post presidency. I don’t believe all his motivation is political. Unfortunately, daddy did not pass any of these good traits on to his son. Mommy spent a lot more time raising sonny and that might account for some of the problem. I could not find one trait prior to sonny’s first election that showed anything but future doom.
I’ve seen the same thing in military leaders. My service was discredited by Air Force general Meyers, former JCS chairman, who only wanted to please and of course was picked because he was spineless. The same goes for Colin Powell who was much more a politician than a leader and who skillfully pulls the wool over the eyes of much of the public, but not the true character generals who served during and after his military service. If the Bush Administration fires you, that means there was some honest character present unless you got dumped simply because your usefulness ended.
All these words are a prelude to my asking Glenn and you commenters to help us look at character and life values of any candidate who holds our future in his or her hands through facts and your years of life experience and knowledge building.
Bye Bebop-o.
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Sysprog great example
[Read the article: Enforcing the community's foreign policy orthodoxy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I didn't see sysprog's comments until I posted mine. That is exactly what I was asking for. Thanks.
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You lefties just want to leave the mess
[Read the article: Enforcing the community's foreign policy orthodoxy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The Center for American Progress, a “liberal think tank” released an article by Brian Katulis that doesn’t spend its time saying woe is me, what do we do except blame others, that outlines a means of making progress in Iraq. Nothing really new, but it shows the sincere desire to get us out of this mess with the least amount of casualties, unlike the surge that just wackamole’s the enemy. Here’s some brief highlights.
“All of these diplomatic efforts represent small steps in the right direction, but they are unlikely to result in substantial results without four key shifts that bridge the dangerous disconnect between U.S. security strategy and U.S. diplomatic strategy for the region:
1) Present a credible plan for redeploying U.S. forces from Iraq. Meetings, conferences, and new U.N. resolutions represent vehicles for transforming the policy, but what is missing is the motivation to get other countries and Iraq’s leaders to step up to the plate and do their share.
2) Implement a temporary pause in underwriting the arms race in Iraq and the region. The U.S. effort to arm and train Iraqis in the absence of a national political consensus is fraught with national security risks.
3) Intensify high-level U.S. diplomatic engagement in the region. Increased U.S. diplomacy with key countries in the region is a step in the right direction, but it is not enough. The recent fly-by visits of Secretaries Rice and Gates won’t yield substantive results unless there is steady and high-level engagement.
4) Link efforts to other major regional security challenges like the Arab-Israeli conflict. A final key shift needed for these small steps in the right direction to yield tangible results is for this country to undertake a serious diplomatic effort that recognizes that linkages between the national security challenges the United States faces across the region. The Bush administration is planning a separate regional meeting this fall on the Arab-Israeli peace front, but there are two missing elements.”
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/08/diplomatic_surge.html