Israel, Lebanon, and Gaza

[scaeagles]

I'm curious....apparently John Kerry has said that if he were President, what's happening in the Middle East (specifically Israel and Labanon) wouldn't be happening.

"If I was president, this wouldn't have happened," said Kerry.

While I think he is completely full of himself, I wonder what everyone else thinks about this.

What I found to be most interesting is how he said that we should have been focusing on Hezbollah. Does this mean that if we had invaded Lebanon he would have been supportive? I sincerely doubt it. Or better yet, if we had invaded Iran, the chief financiers of Helbollah, he would have been supportive? Not a chance.

However, I am open to the possibility that should Kerry be President, this would not be happening, but certainly not because Kerry would be doing anything to prevent it. I personally believe that Iran is giving orders to Hezbollah to up the violence into full scale war to distract the attention of the international community away from Iran trying to continue with their nuclear programs.

I don't think with Kerry in office Iran would feel a need to distract the international community.

[wendybeth]

If Iran were a pit-bull, Kerry would probably try and make nice with it or simply ignore it. Bush takes a big stick and repeatedly pokes it- which is more likely to piss it off? Never mind that the pit-bull is an asshole and everyone is afraid of it, the point is which method is more likely to result in a less tragic outcome?

[Alex]

Originally Posted by wendybeth

If Iran were a pit-bull, Kerry would probably try and make nice with it or simply ignore it. Bush takes a big stick and repeatedly pokes it- which is more likely to piss it off? Never mind that the pit-bull is an asshole and everyone is afraid of it, the point is which method is more likely to result in a less tragic outcome?

How do you define less tragic. I think one produces tragic (not that I really lay what is happening in Israel-Lebanon at the feet of Bush) now and the other produces tragic next year.

This year you say why didn't you leave the dog alone? Next year you say why did you get the dog get so out of control.

[wendybeth]

It makes much more sense to at least ensure a fence is betwixt you and the dog before you poke it, Alex.

[Alex]

Depends on what you poke it with. I'm not sure who you are saying should have a fence but Israel was trying to build one to general international condemnation when they were attacked by the dog.

And no it doesn't.

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

This year you say why didn't you leave the dog alone? Next year you say why did you get the dog get so out of control.

And thus it is with the world of international relations and domestic politics.

Political opponents will do their best to downplay the threat that was posed by those who, though our actions, no longer pose a threat at all, even when those same political opponents trumpeted the danger looming on the hoizon by said threat.

Any new threat will be said to be out of control because the proper attention was not paid to it.

What was a threat doesn't matter. What is a threat doesn't matter. What matters is that they can be the ones in power to ignore or deal with the threat as they see fit. And often times, sadly, those threats are aided in the name of reaching out or understanding or compromise, making the elimination of the threat that much more complicated and difficult.

[Motorboat Cruiser]

Well, not that it was the most stable place to begin with, but I definitely think we have aided in the destabilization of the region by our efforts in Iraq. We kicked a hornet’s nest and now our enemies are just a little extra thirsty for blood, both from us, and our allies.

Could Kerry have made a noticeable difference, had he become President? I’m pretty skeptical of that assertion. The damage was already done. This is a mess that won’t be cleared up for years to come, in my opinion.

[innerSpaceman]

Yeah, it makes me quite sad that it doesn't much matter who's President or who's elected to any position in government.

The goal of those who crave power is always to change things to such a degree that no one can turn back the tide. I think that has happened with Iraq, and I think it has happened - or is fiendishly close - in many other vital spheres of the world - be it globalcorporate, religiofundamentalism, profit medicine, elected government, or earthspanning capital.

[Gemini Cricket]

I wonder what the status of the Americans that are in Lebanon is? Ralphie watched a TV news special this weekend saying that there were about 25,000 of them there. Bush can be supportive of Israel's right to defend herself, but what of the US citizens there?

[Gemini Cricket]

When religion leads, we fight.