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January 21, 2005

Learn, dammit!

Callimachus refuses to learn from history:

A two-pronged approach to Iran could be effective, if the U.S. and Europe can cooperate long enough to work it. But the Anglo-Franco-German diplomatic approach will work only because there's a serious U.S. threat lurking on the other side of the room. Otherwise, it's all carrot and no stick.

I don't relish my nation in the bad cop role. But I do like the idea that the rulers of Syria and Iran, and the Glorious Leader of North Korea, awake in a cold sweat at midnight, with nightmares of the U.S. military.

Wake up and smell the coffee,Callimachus. The US military is overstretched, overburdened and barely treading water when it comes to dealing with Afghanistan and Iraq.

Not to mention the fact that we can't trust our intelligence community and the Executive Branch braintrust to get it right and not be completely wreckless. Or did you miss the fact that pretty much all of Bush's entire premise for invading Iraq has fallen apart like a cheap house of cards?

If you don't think the guys in charge of Syria, Iran and North Korea aren't paying attention to that uncomfortable fact, let me disabuse you of your illusions right now. While it may be gratifying to some base need to be a tough guy...more arrogant posturing and ass-kicking style tactics will get us nowhere. Why? The notion that we're there to back up our words with tough action....Bush and what army?

And then there's the intelligence aspect. How can the American citizenry be sure that Bush, the CIA and other intelligence agencies haven't screwed up another country's information? We can't. The bottom line is...we can't trust these guys to get it right. Until they can prove to us that they've managed to sort out their problems and reformed to the point where they are once again effective, there's no reason to believe they know what they're talking about.

The rest of the talk about Europe and Israel is useless and meaningless. This is about the US and what we can do and what we can't. And right now...we can't trust Bush and we can't trust the intelligence agencies to get it right.

Posted by Carla at January 21, 2005 01:55 PM