Setting the Record StraightNBC's David Gregory: "Crisis After Crisis Has Undermined The Bush Doctrine." (NBC's "Today," 7/21/06)
A Consensus Is Building Behind The President's Foreign Policy Approach *
The United States Is Rallying The World Behind North Korea. "The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Saturday condemning North Korea's recent missile tests and demanding that the reclusive communist nation suspend its ballistic missile program." (Edith M. Lederer, "Security Council Unanimously Adopts North Korea Resolution," The Associated Press, 7/15/06)
*
The United States Is Rallying The World Behind Its Policy Toward Iran. "World powers rebuked Iran last week by seeking possible punishment from the Security Council, saying Iran had not signaled an intent to negotiate seriously over its disputed nuclear program. … 'Iran has a serious choice to make and we invited it to make the right decision to react positively to the concrete proposals presented to it,' the
leaders said in their statement." (Jeannine Aversa, "Leaders Press North Korea On Missile Tests, Urge Iran To Accept Nuclear Energy Offer," The Associated Press, 7/18/06)
* The United States Is Rallying The World Behind Its Policy Toward Iraq. "We will support the newly constitutionally elected government of Iraq and call upon it to continue the policies of inclusiveness as a means to overcome divisions within Iraq. We will continue to assist in building an independent, stable, secure, democratic, prosperous and united Iraq at peace with its neighbours and the international community." ("U.S.-EU Summit Declaration: Promoting Peace, Human Rights And Democracy Worldwide," 6/21/06)
* The United States Is Rallying The World Behind Its Policy Toward The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. "We will continue to promote a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the basis of the Roadmap in order to advance a just, viable and lasting two-state solution and we call on both parties to avoid unilateral measures that prejudice final status issues." ("U.S.-EU Summit Declaration: Promoting Peace, Human Rights And Democracy Worldwide," 6/21/06)
In Iraq, Military Forgot the Lessons of Vietnam
Early Missteps by U.S. Left Troops Unprepared for Guerrilla Warfare
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2735858&mesg_id=2735858Iraq parliament speaker calls for US withdrawal
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2735768&mesg_id=2735768GOP Lawmakers Edge Away From Optimism on Iraq
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2731944&mesg_id=2731944A Perfect Storm Of Clouded Judgment
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1697883&mesg_id=1697883American Jews Call for Ceasefire in Lebanon
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1697831&mesg_id=1697831Iraq PM to urge U.S. to work for truce
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1702814&mesg_id=1702814 In the longer run, however, it is the calls Bush didn't—or couldn't—make that might mean the difference in containing this new Mideast conflict. As part of his policy of isolating terror-supporting groups and nations, the Bush administration has no relationship with any of the other parties at war or the states behind them. That apparently means no dialogue, even through back channels, with Iran, Syria, Hizbullah and Hamas. Senior U.S. officials also said Bush and Rice had no intention of appointing a special envoy at this time. (Welch, having conducted all-day meetings with Israeli officials and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, took off on a previously scheduled trip to Libya over the weekend.) As a result, the president must watch and hope while his whole Mideast legacy—his goal of transforming a region that is the primary source for Islamist terrorism—stands at risk. Also on the line is his strategy of isolating Iran, as tensions mounted between Washington and Europe over Israel's action. "Usually in the past, whenever there was a crisis in the Mideast, the U.S. would immediately dispatch a high-level envoy," said Imad Moustapha, the Syrian ambassador to Washington, confirming that his government had received no U.S. contacts except a request for visas for Americans fleeing Lebanon to Damascus. "This time the only thing the United States is doing is blaming parties, assigning responsibility. There's nothing else."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13881743/site/newsweekPosted on Wed, Jul. 12, 2006
Bush has little leverage to deal with abundant global crises
By Warren P. Strobel
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON - Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, President Bush's foreign policy has been driven by blunt talk, a willingness to threaten or use military force, and a belief that American power can reorder the world.
"We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality," a White House aide famously told journalist-author Ron Suskind in 2002.
Reality has bitten back.
From the corpse-strewn streets of Baghdad to Iran's uranium-enrichment plants, from Israel's escalating conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon to North Korean missile launch pads, the White House faces developments that appear to be getting worse for U.S. interests.
Virtually every president faces a plethora of global crises, sometimes simultaneously. What's new is that the United States' ability to influence events has shrunk, largely because U.S. troops and treasure remain mired in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Iraq war has diminished foreign confidence in American leadership, according to foreign policy experts and some U.S. officials.
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http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/15023972.htm
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