Thanks to Andrew & Pat for all of your help!
Iraq is probably the most talked about issue right now, so I'll add my two cents on the Moderate Party plank of Peaceful Security. This, to me, is about much more than the current catastrophe in Iraq. We need to not only redouble our efforts at diplomacy in world hotspots, but also work to rebuild our credibility. Step 1 - stop supporting dictatorships. Step 2 - if someone we don't like wins a democratic election, don't undermine them. Step 3 - send our troops only to places they can do good, such as Darfur. Step 4 - apologize to the world for our illegal invasion of Iraq, and ask the UN to fix our mess. There are many more required steps, but those would get us off to a roaring start.
It doesn't matter what one thinks of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, he was democratically elected, survived a recall vote easily, and was re-elected with 62% of the vote. We cannot continue to undermine his government. This may seem innocuous to some, but it is hugely damaging to our reputation and to our national security. When we intervene in the internal politics of Venezuela, we make ourselves a legitimate target for those who want to inflame the world against us.
In Iraq, it's time for self-serving politicians and pundits to stop saying "cut and run." Does anyone really think we should "cut and run?" I really don't think so. It's time to admit that we have failed. The invasion itself was a recipe for disaster because there was never an attempt to win. We took out Hussein and handed the country over to Al Quaida. Remember, there was only one small Al Quaida group in Iraq before the invasion, and they were in the US controlled northern no-fly zone. If we apologize to the world it's possible that maybe, just maybe, the United Nations will come up with a stabilization plan. Forces will need to be stationed there, but ours cannot provide net gains for the United States or for Iraq. It will need to be someone else. That's unfortunate, but true.
I'm sure that many people consider the previous paragraph naive. Sorry, but it's far more naive to think we can win a war that we lost as soon as we crossed the border.
In a future post I'll tell you why this one is irrelevant.
