American Globalism, Political Gains, War on Terror and behind the scene story of British Bombing

Interesting article by John Deutch on American foriegn policy

Time to Pull Out. And Not Just From Iraq. - New York Times: "America embarks on an specially perilous course, however, when it actively attempts to establish a government based on our values in another part of the world. It is one matter to adopt a foreign policy that encourages democratic values; it is quite another to believe it just or practical to achieve such results on the ground with military forces. This is true whether we are acting alone, as is largely the case in Iraq, or as part of an international coalition.
It seems that many in the Bush administration believed that an invasion to topple Saddam Hussein would result in a near spontaneous conversion of Iraq, and with luck much of the Middle East, to democracy. But the notion of intervening in foreign countries to build a society of our preference is not just a Republican or conservative failing. The corresponding democratic or liberal failing is the view that America has a duty to intervene in foreign countries that egregiously violate human rights and a responsibility to oppose and, where possible, remove totalitarian heads of state. This Democratic rhetoric quickly moves from 'peacekeeping' in a country torn by strife to 'peacemaking' and to 'nation-building.'
The Clinton administration's intervention in Bosnia in the mid-1990's is an example of just such a failing: moving from an initial, laudable objective of stopping the Serbian 'ethnic cleansing' of Bosnians to a fantastical goal of creating a 'multiethnic' society with peaceful coexistence among three groups - Bosnian Muslims, Croats and Serbs - that have a history of enmity."

Further he writes ....

"THIS conventional view, however, ignores two important questions. The first is, how much are American interests in the Arab world being harmed by our continued presence in Iraq? Second, how much does the United States' presence in Iraq reduce our ability to deal with other important security challenges, notably those posed by North Korea, Iran and international
terrorism? Those who argue that we should 'stay the course' because an early withdrawal from Iraq would hurt America's global credibility must consider the possibility that we will fail in our objectives in Iraq and suffer an even worse loss of credibility down the road."

Update:

And Infact John Deutch is not the only one, here is Robert A. Pape contending in his controversial new book ("Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism") that U.S. policymakers misread why suicide terrorists do what they do.

A Scholarly Look at Terror Sees Bootprints In the Sand: "suicide terrorism is not so much committed by religious fanatics looking for a quick trip to paradise as it is by a variety of secular and religious individuals who fear that their societies will be unalterably transformed by a religiously motivated occupier,' says Pape, who was sought out last week by CNN and Fox in the wake of the London terrorist attacks."

And here is a good article by chapati mystery pointing out to troubled teen syndrome similarities in Columbine kids and young Leed's kid in the wake of London attacks that I discussed somewhere earlier. Actually his story reminds me of the movie "Fight Club" that may explain the weird behavior that turns good lads into monsters. Apart from movies and stuff alienation in their own country is actually the reason they are falling prey to Al-Qaeda or becoming a self proclaimed Al-Aqaeda.

Woodland Daily Democrat - Associated Press: "Begg described racism that he encountered when he was growing up in the 1980s. Some of his Pakistani friends were beaten up by skinheads, he says. 'Almost everyone back then was harassed at some point for being dark-skinned, for being Pakistani,' he said. But the divide between Muslims and non-Muslims was more acute in regions such as West Yorkshire, which includes Leeds, the northern city where at least three of the four suicide bombers in last week's attacks are believed to have grown up. The fourth is believed to have been Jamaican-born."

Related update

And the latest is the news break that Bush Administrations tactics to win election caused high value targets to escape. Naeem Noor Khan pointed out the name of Siddique Khan (the 32 year old Bomber) who managed to elude the MI5 investigations. And all this happened just because Bush Administration pressured pakistani authorities to announce some gains on war on terror. Mr. Musharraf bent to his "Aaqa's" (Master) request and the war on terror actually got the back seat.