Letters to the Editor
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Exactly
The last nearly 7 years of the Bush administration has moved the US in exactly the wrong direction and Kamiya correctly encapsulates the results of that disaster devised by naive men devoid of judgment and ignorant of the history of the region and even of the history of America in the 20th century. Which means that anything Bush and the neo-cons are in favor of, the exact opposite ought to be done. The Israeli-Palestinian problem is the more intractable one because of the fear of politicians, save Carter, to act with equanimity toward Israel. The US is because of Bush no longer viewed as an honest broker in that conflict to which the Iraqi war is really a sideshow. Torture, war, and arrogance are now the face of America, not a lady holding a beacon of freedom in a land where all men are created equal. Despite Bush's blatant failures, neither Iraq nor the region well immolate when we leave hysterical rantings of the neo-cons to the contrary. The US does need to quit the entire region, but that is not at all what the two leading Democratic candidates are espousing. Their view is different from the neo-cons only in degree since they both state a continued military presence is required, for what isnt made clear. And the lack of clarity is because neither of them really know why. But the saying of it makes them seem more shall we say strong and global in "protecting" our "interests". Our interests are in leaving and developing an energy policy that doesnt rely on the only asset that region has of any utility. Were it not for that, we would have no armies there and no navies navegating its waters. The policy Kamiya urges is one that should apply to the rest of American foreign policy, a country which has fought the bear so long it cant seem to live without an enemy. The world is tired of America. And we can not kill all the evil in it especially when we arent asked to do so. When the world needs us, and the cause is right, is another matter. The trick is to be sure of the first and have the wisdom to know the latter.