Progressive Democrat Issue 37: THOUGHTS
So much going on this week! A near victory in a deep red district in Ohio. The cowardly backdoor appointment of Bolton as UN ambassador. The launch of Al Gore's new TV network, Current TV. Bob "traitor" Novak's freaking out on national television, cursing, then storming out like a petulant child. Tensions mounting in Israel ahead of "disengagement." And so much more I don't have a chance to deal with just yet. But read on! There is much to cover this week.
Last week I discussed some of our core values as Democrats. What I mostly focused on was domestic policy. What I left out, somewhat intentionally, is our core stand on war. We are portrayed by the eternally lying right as being weak on defense, even though it is BUSH who has failed so miserably to protect America. What should our stand be on terrorism and on the War in Iraq? As with the core values I outlined last time, there is no single easy answer, but this is my stab at an answer.
Our core value: strength and determination against terrorism, but no war of aggression.
In other words, we MUST draw a sharp distinction between the war against those who attacked us on 9/11 and the war in Iraq. We must definitively say they ARE NOT LINKED and that Bush's war in Iraq is ill defined, not in America's interest and merely a distraction from the real war against those who attacked us. We must basically say we are withdrawing over time from Iraq in order to re-deploy our forces BACK into the war against terrorism.
We can't favor any major cuts to defense spending just yet, because there are real threats to our lives and our security that we DO have to deal with. But we can oppose large increases and the wasteful, corrupt support of war profiteers like Halliburton (see the Target the Corrupt Republican section!). We have to advocate a strong, but FOCUSED war on terrorism that combines diplomacy, international co-operation to cut off funding and arms supplies, and, where necessary, military strikes. In areas where we have carried out military strikes and areas where the local governments co-operate with us we should have a generous "Marshall Plan" for rebuilding. It worked after WW II, why shouldn't it be part of our plan now? And another part of the whole fight should be supporting women's rights through projects similar to those of the Global Fund for Women.
The gist of this foreign policy is a combination of diplomacy/co-operation and military action, a combination of carrot and stick. Our current policy of only stick, of only unilateral, unfocused military action is failing dismally. We must refocus, re-deploy and improve our war against those who attacked us. The war for Halliburton's profits must end now!
Last week I discussed some of our core values as Democrats. What I mostly focused on was domestic policy. What I left out, somewhat intentionally, is our core stand on war. We are portrayed by the eternally lying right as being weak on defense, even though it is BUSH who has failed so miserably to protect America. What should our stand be on terrorism and on the War in Iraq? As with the core values I outlined last time, there is no single easy answer, but this is my stab at an answer.
Our core value: strength and determination against terrorism, but no war of aggression.
In other words, we MUST draw a sharp distinction between the war against those who attacked us on 9/11 and the war in Iraq. We must definitively say they ARE NOT LINKED and that Bush's war in Iraq is ill defined, not in America's interest and merely a distraction from the real war against those who attacked us. We must basically say we are withdrawing over time from Iraq in order to re-deploy our forces BACK into the war against terrorism.
We can't favor any major cuts to defense spending just yet, because there are real threats to our lives and our security that we DO have to deal with. But we can oppose large increases and the wasteful, corrupt support of war profiteers like Halliburton (see the Target the Corrupt Republican section!). We have to advocate a strong, but FOCUSED war on terrorism that combines diplomacy, international co-operation to cut off funding and arms supplies, and, where necessary, military strikes. In areas where we have carried out military strikes and areas where the local governments co-operate with us we should have a generous "Marshall Plan" for rebuilding. It worked after WW II, why shouldn't it be part of our plan now? And another part of the whole fight should be supporting women's rights through projects similar to those of the Global Fund for Women.
The gist of this foreign policy is a combination of diplomacy/co-operation and military action, a combination of carrot and stick. Our current policy of only stick, of only unilateral, unfocused military action is failing dismally. We must refocus, re-deploy and improve our war against those who attacked us. The war for Halliburton's profits must end now!
posted by mole333 | 11:16 PM
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