Reply #207: It's all a freaking mess.....

[Raoul Duke II]

and to me it's very much because of the cold war. We did so many things against our self-proclaimed ideals for the greater good of
fending off the Soviets.

When we gave up on the Shah, look at the alternative that occured in Iran. Even supporting elections is somewhat suspect. In Egypt, I'd bet a religious fundamentalist would win a true election. In Iran, after 25 years of the Mullahs, I'd bet a truly free and open election would see a secular democrat elected. They've had enough.

What do you do?

Soft power won't end hard-line dictatorships in the middle east.
Those very dictatorships, which are secular, suppress and/or export their fundamentalist islamic problem. This suppression only reinforces the strength of the fundies within, or exports bloodshed and terrorism elsewhere. But hard power seems to do just the same.
I think there are more terrorists being created in Iraq than we
can kill quickly enough.

I'ts like Mickey mouse in fantasia with the little brooms...