Another Political Post

Again, I really want to write about the 1930s..but for now let's call that a work in progress. I feel the need to address the issue of our coalition forces in Iraq.

I saw an interview with former Polish President Lech Walesa. He expressed how the US has a great friend in Poland and how he’s not convinced that America truly appreciates this. I would have to say that Walesa is right. Where is the public appreciation from both candidates for our coalition allies?

The popular belief in this country is that we are “going it alone” or that we need to build a “true coalition.” Bush hasn’t done enough to get the message to the American people that our allies are many and strong. Yet, although I will fault Bush in part, I just can’t understand Kerry’s remarks about our coalition. If you listen to the comments from Kerry and other Democrats in this election you would believe we had no support in Iraq at all. Kerry supporters, and Kerry himself, argue that Bush has squandered international support, alienated our allies and that America itself has lost respect in the world. How does this message play out around the world? Clearly, the evidence does not support this belief.

To see how remarkable the coalition is one need to look no further than Japan. Japan changed its constitution to help the US in Iraq. In 1947 the constitution was revised to prohibit leading a war or maintaining an army. I won’t comment about all of the back and forth that the political parties have spewed about the diplomatic abilities of the candidates, but what does it say that Japan was willing to change its constitution to support the effort in Iraq? It seems to me that Kerry is too focused on trying to get our OLD allies (France, Germany) to get on board and consequently ignoring the good friends and allies that we do have.

Part of Kerry’s campaign is that he will use diplomacy to change the war in Iraq. How will he work with our current allies after he has disrespected them in speech after speech? Most recently, Kerry insulted the Iraqi Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, while Allawi was in town to speak to congress! How does Kerry intend to work with him if Kerry is elected? Granted, Allawi is only an interim prime minister, but that makes Kerry’s comments even more troubling. Here is a fragile state working desperately to advance the political process and stabilize the security of its citizens, and Kerry just dismisses him as a puppet?

Kerry talks about building bridges and building alliances, but I only see him burning bridges and dismissing our current allies. It reminds me of a school yard...One boy just longs to be popular even though he is terribly unpopular. His friends, albeit geeky, have stood behind him time after time, but as soon as the popular kid offers the boy a chance to sit at the “cool table”, he takes it, and ignores his true friends. At what cost did he sell out his friends? He is not being true to himself and he doesn’t have real friends now only people who pretend to care about his interests. Can the US afford to compromise its ideals and values in order to be popular? Can we afford to elect Kerry when he only seems to want to do what is popular at the moment rather than what his believes to be in the best interests of the United States of America? Kerry is often praised for seeing every angle of any given issue. Does he not see how difficult it will be to expand the coalition when he alienates the current members?

If you want to see some other great political debate check out http://www.tinypenguin.blogspot.com where Joy and I have been blogging back and forth for weeks.