At 02:06 PM 10/14/2004 -0700 David Brin wrote: >> Don't worry, Republicans will accept the results of >> the election, even if >> we do feel that it leads inevitably towards >> surrender in the war on terrorism. > >Since it is now proved that the VASTLY SUCCESSFUL >AFGHANISTAN INTERVENTION - the one that was actually >about terror - WAS PLANNED UNDER THE CLINTON >ADMINISTRATION... your statement above is utter >hogwash. > >Entirely emotional.
You need to read my comment in the context of my other post on "The Great Divide." The difference between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party is this - the Republicans overwhelming believe in the merits of the Iraq War, and the Iraq War would never have happened under the Democrats. If you believe, as I do, that Iraq is the central front in the War on Islamic Terror, this is a tremendous difference between the two parties. Moreover, I believe that a President Kerry would be under extraordinary pressures - both from his Party and from his own deeply rooted anti-casualty inclinations - to bring the troops home as quickly as possible. I believe that Kerry would attempt to do so, even if it means "not finishing the job" in Iraq, and permitting some new form of totalitarianism to rise to power there. I think that such a move will be read in the Arab World as tantamount to surrender - similar to Bill Clinton's pull-out from Somalia. Furthermore, I believe that an election of President Kerry would be forever interpreted by history as a repudiation of the Iraq War. I believe that this verdict of repudiation would affect US Presidents and their willingness to use force to spread the cause of freedom for at least a generation. Additionally, when it comes to the DPRK, Democrats believe that the Clinton policy, which resulted in the DPRK taking our bribes and building nuclear weapons anyways was basically right, and that the US should again engage the DPRK *bilaterally* and give more bribes and negotiations and believe that the DPRK will really mean it this time. Republicans believe, as I do, that the Clinton policy was a tragic mistake, and that the only solution to the DPRK problem is a *multilateral* one to strongarm the DPRK into complete, total, and verifiable disarmamnet. As for the idea that Clinton planned the Afghanistan War - and that moreover, that Bill Cohen - who wasn't even *half* as committed to military transformation as Donald Rumsfeld - could have executed it successfully, even if they had planned it - well, that idea simply defies plausibility. JDG _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
