So Defense Secretary Robert Gates will attempt to "bridge the idealism and realism among Republicans". The pragmatism that has dominated Bush's foreign policy, and changed the way America is viewed by the rest of the world must be changed. This ideal of 'democracy for all' has translated to a sort of arrogance on America's part in attempting to imbue a democratic ideal in a Muslim world.
This just isn't feasible. Gates knows it, hopefully Bush knows it, and the American people know it. Muslim culture, the Islamic faith, and the general ideology doesn't gel with the constitutions that we write 'for them'. Gates will argue that in weighing the "competing impulses in US foreign policy: realism vs. idealism, freedom vs. security, values vs. interests - the country must incorporate both".
Finally, steps taken towards change. Hopefully this controversial speech will translate into action. Probably not, but I'm optimistic.
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I love the comment by whichever senator that was on the daily show- the one that said global warming is a lie perpetrated by the weather channell- that the problem with iraq is that its in iraq..that's hilarious..it's like if only this were a random neutral country full of totally blank-slate people that we could shape and mold into little United States. And now someone's realizing..oh yea..we can't...there are forces at work larger than just yay democracy- religion, society, culture, dress, music, food, conventional behavior...if were going to go to war..shouldn't someone have checked these things out?
The whole idea of forcing people to do what we want justs makes me mad. I hate arrogance, people should make their decisions by themselves. I understand if they want help with their decisions because who dosen't want a little feedback when they're working on a project. Of course we usually force our ways of life on foreign countries anyway, I guess we need a little advice on helping countries get back on their feet.
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