>Thanks Tom,
>
>Some excerpts from http://www.msnbc.com/news/885222.asp?vts=031720030655&cp1=1, I find interesting:
>
>>"It developed a language and diplomatic style that seemed calculated to offend the world. (President Bush has placed a portrait of Theodore Roosevelt in the White House. TR’s most famous words of advice are worth recalling: “Speak softly and carry a big stick.”)"

I admire Theodore Roosevelt, and I happen to agree with the phrase "speak softly and carry a big stick". I think if the United Nations proves anything, is that it is good at just the opposite... speaking loudly but doing nothing about it. In the U.S., we have a saying for people like this: All talk and no action.

I do not know which 5 international treaties mentioned in the article Bush withdrew from, so I can't comment on those. I am assuming one is the Kyoto Accord, but I do not know our reasons for withdrawing.

As far as North Korea goes, what I have read is that we had a treaty, under Clinton, that North Korea was secretly breaking during the entire Clinton presidency.

>>"Nowhere has this appearance of diplomatic hypocrisy been more striking than on Iraq"

As far as Cheney and Rumsfield calling inspections a sham, I totally agree. Everything I have read from previous inspectors (David Kay and Richard Butler) says that inspectors are there to verify a country's willingness to disarm, not to prove a country has disarmed. In other words, inspectors can't find something in a country the size of California if the government doesn't want it to be found:

http://usembassy.state.gov/islamabad/wwwh03012404.html
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/july-dec98/butler_11-10.html

As far as the U.S. deploying troops on Iraq's border, most people agree that this is the only reason Saddam has cooperated as mush as he has.

>>"The notion is that the United States needs to intimidate countries with its power and assertiveness, always threatening, always denouncing, never showing weakness. Donald Rumsfeld often quotes a line from Al Capone: “You will get more with a kind word and a gun than with a kind word alone.”" (For me this is terrorism!)

This is probably the weirdest statement of all in the article. They seem to be saying that because Bush uses the word "expect", that he is intimidating countries. Furthermore, what nations have we threatened? The article mentions it, without backing it up with a shred of evidence, just the word "expect".

As far as the line about Al Capone, I believe it's true. Whether you want to believe it or not, you do get more with a kind word and a gun than with a kind word. Don't forget that Saddam didn't end his war with Iran because of kind words, and he didn't leave Kuwait because of diplomacy.

Everyone "expects" things to be solved diplomatically, as if this is some magic means for solving the world's problems. History shows otherwise.

>>"In principle, American power is not simply good for America; it is good for the world. Most of the problems the world faces today—from terrorism to AIDS to nuclear proliferation—will be solved not with less U.S. engagement but with more."

On one hand, it seems as though the rest of the world wants the U.S. to stay out of everyone's business. But then the U.S. is criticized for not fixing the problem with North Korea, not being dimplomatic enought, etc. The U.S. is damned if it does, damned if it doesn't.

>>"There are many specific ways for the United States to rebuild its relations with the world. It can match its military buildup with diplomatic efforts that demonstrate its interest and engagement in the world’s problems. It can stop oversubsidizing American steelworkers, farmers and textile-mill owners, and open its borders to goods from poorer countries. "

There is no need to us to rebuild our diplomatic relations with the rest of the world. The only countries we are having problems with are France, Germany, and Russia. Watch how quickly those problems are resolved once we win the war.

I would like your opinion on some of the following statements in the article:

He gassed 60,000 of his own people in 1986 in Halabja.

This directly contradicts the site Fabian Bello posted today:

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/helms.html

He has flouted 16 United Nations resolutions over 12 years that have warned him to disarm or else, including one, four months ago, giving him a “final opportunity” to do so “fully and immediately” or face “serious consequences.”

It is also true that some of the governments opposing action in Iraq do so not for love of peace and international harmony but for more cynical reasons. France and Russia have a long history of trying to weaken the containment of Iraq to ensure that they can have good trading relations with it. France, after all, helped Saddam Hussein build a nuclear reactor that was obviously a launching pad for a weapons program. (Why would the world’s second largest oil producer need a nuclear power plant?)