"Nate Perkins"


Instead of flexing our military muscle in the Middle East, we would be
better off to exercise some of the other tools in our toolbox. Economic
incentives, for one. Cultivate economic development and mutual trade
with the moderate countries in the Middle East. Prosperity and economic
development are bigger promoters of democracy than military might is.


How much oil do we need to buy before you consider it cultivating
economic development? And wasn't Iraq sanctioned by the UN for
10 years or more? That seems like a big incentive to me.



Close our bases in Saudi Arabia. Those just give the Al Qaeda types
fuel for their fire, and it does little for us in a practical military
sense. Move them all to Qatar or elsewhere.


Is that what the Saudis want? Aren't we protecting them from
a hostile take over?


Stop our one-sided support for the Israelis. Use the threat of
withdrawing our foreign aid from Israel to force them into ceasing
settlement expansion. Promote an Israeli-Palestinian peace based on
mutual recognition and the 1967 boundaries. The Arab-Israeli conflict
has been the centerpoint of terrorism in the Middle East for decades,
and our recent work to promote Mideast peace has been window-dressing at
best.


Nonsense. Arafat had 95 percent of what he asked for. He wanted
the elimination of Israel, not co-operation. Even with Israel gone we
would still have terrorists because the extremists hate western culture,
what our freedoms have introduced into the world.



And of course we should try to make sure another attack doesn't happen
in America again. Fundamental to that is to look critically at why the
first attack was allowed to happen. Frankly a lot of the administration
and a lot of the government agencies were all asleep at the wheel.
Frankly a lot of them are still miscommunicating and acting
inefficiently in this regard.


Hindsight is 20/20 but I think they got the hint.



I think your implication is that by fighting them over there, we can
avoid fighting them over here. I think this is a bad assumption.
Really, it only took 19 of them to do the 9/11 attacks.


Not true. They had quite a bit of training and support from entities
that are out of business or on the run.


Don't you
suppose that they can fight us with a few tens of thousands over there
and still find a way to send another 19 here?


I didn't see any solutions from you except spend money in the mideast and
turn support away from Israel. I don't think you understand what they want.
The extremist don't want to live peacefully with the west and they'll keep
the moderates from it if they can.