Susan Rice Vocally Supported the Iraq War, and Every Mid-East War Since

[grantcart]

40. The thing about international success is that it is invisible and quickly forgotten.

Four years ago we were ginning up a major confrontation with Russia. That is gone. We have had multiple transfers from dictatorships to struggling democracies with remarkable little loss of life.

Then there is Burma. I have a house that is less than 2 kilometers from the Burmese border. For the last 15 years I have given up all hope that a major civil war could be avoided there. The Army was so entrenched. And a new generation of leadership came and the President took an enormous risk by making a personal trip there and embracing a very shaky transition.

Now we see for the first time in decades the possibility of a peaceful transition for the people of Burma. Burma is very much like Yugoslavia in that it has no real center and is made up of dozens of ethnic groups that really don't like each other.

But it goes deeper than that. I believe that the President (and SOS Clinton's) major second agenda in Burma was to show the new but isolated leadership in North Korea that if they take a step towards us, even a small one, the President will take a big step towards them. Burma was, behind China, North Korea's number one trading, diplomatic, and military friend. By bringing Burma out of isolation the President is showing North Korea that entirely new relations are possible.

I don't think that the message of the President getting Aung Suu Kyi out of house arrest and into parliment was lost on Cuba either.

Similarly I don't think that the message was lost on Iran either.

People don't see the very nuanced, and high risk, efforts of the President's international movements because the President, and SOS Clinton would rather deflect attention and get results than land on aircraft carrier and have a photo op.

I believe that the President's actions have saved tens of thousands of lives, and his foriegn policy has advanced the interests of peace in areas where there wasn't a lot of hope, more than any other President in recent times. Clinton's intervention in Yugoslavia saved the lives of thousands of Muslims. The President's interention in Burma has done the same, but he did it without landing a military force.