We have supported Muslims in Afghanistan in their war against the Soviets. We supported Muslims in Bosnia when Serbia went crazy. We maintained good relations with Saudi Arabia and to a large extent with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and certainly with Jordan.

But, at the end of the Clinton administration all that seems to have changed. Arafat couldn’t control or operate independent of the militants and it all fell apart.

Then came 9/11 and we went to war against Al Qaeda, and according to Geoge W. Bush with all militant Islamists, even those who weren’t militant until we attacked them and made them militant.

So, what should our current policy towards the Middle East be?

How can we fight the militants who would harm us and our friends without running into the Vietnam problem of not being able to differentiate friend from foe until they use violence?

Going back to the end of the Cold War it seems we were setting up the Iraq-Iran conflict and using both sides to our benefit. Is the Global War on Terror real or just a thing we inspired in order to sell weapons?

I think the Iraqis are the ones “reaping” the costs.

punaise @ 310

Swopa @
309

BTW; What’s a Swopa?

That is an excellent question, and you know I have absolutely no idea. Somebody should ask him.
Swopa?

or SWOPA: Sex Workers Online Protection Act

Way down on my list of things to do someday is to create a personal site, on which a page would be devoted to the many possible meanings of “Swopa” — including the two above.

Sadly, a couple of other sites using the acronym are defunct: The South-West Oklahoma Patrolmen’s Association, and (my fave) the Sexy World Of Pam Anderson.

how about Scintillating Wonky Online Punditry, Always?

btw, we await your answer. :~)

Crap, someone cracked the code.

Darn, I thought it was your bizarro self: edoms

Swopa @
309

BTW; What’s a Swopa?

That is an excellent question, and you know I have absolutely no idea. Somebody should ask him.
Swopa?

or SWOPA: Sex Workers Online Protection Act

Way down on my list of things to do someday is to create a personal site, on which a page would be devoted to the many possible meanings of “Swopa” — including the two above.

Sadly, a couple of other sites using the acronym are defunct: The South-West Oklahoma Patrolmen’s Association, and (my fave) the Sexy World Of Pam Anderson.

how about Scintillating Wonky Online Punditry, Always?

btw, we await your answer. :~)

Crap, someone cracked the code.

Joe Wilson @
122

I am on the advisory committee of the Military Religious Freedom foundation which fight the evangelical proslytizing in the armed services. Taking on the neocons and theocons seems to be my calling these days. I prefer to think of it as fighting for the republic and the constitution for which it stands.

You’re not alone in that calling. As a member of the clergy myself, I am appalled at what is labeled “Christian” by the theocons, or by the media watching the theocons and saying “that’s what it means to be Christian.”

I would imagine my feelings are akin to yours as you watch Bush strut around in international gatherings, and hear him described as an American diplomat.

Good luck to you and the advisory committee on which you are serving. (Might be a good topic for discussion around here, down the road . . .)

Why don’t you in the clergy publicly call fundamentalism based on biblical inerrancy what it is? It is not Christianity. It’s a heresy on Christianity?

Not only would you make a religious battle out of it, removing it from the political realm, my bet is that the Christian clergy who called them on their heresy would find a sharp increase in the size of their dominations. Though it should be done by independent Preachers because the old-line mainstream churches would tend to schism a bit.

The Theocons need to be called on the idiocy they are pushing, and real Christianity needs to be returned to the public realm.

If this is too far off topic, I apologize, but many of the worst errors of the Bush administration seem to me to be based on pressure from the Theocons, and the Theocons appear to be alone in the public sphere. They need competition in the public sphere on their doctrine as well as on their politics. Perhaps then their faith (heretical though it is)-based politics will then become so costly to them that they have to retreat to the shadows where they mostly were after the Scopes trial.

BTW; What’s a Swopa?

That is an excellent question, and you know I have absolutely no idea. Somebody should ask him.
Swopa?

or SWOPA: Sex Workers Online Protection Act

Way down on my list of things to do someday is to create a personal site, on which a page would be devoted to the many possible meanings of “Swopa” — including the two above.

Sadly, a couple of other sites using the acronym are defunct: The South-West Oklahoma Patrolmen’s Association, and (my fave) the Sexy World Of Pam Anderson.

how about Scintillating Wonky Online Punditry, Always?

btw, we await your answer. :~)

BTW; What’s a Swopa?
That is an excellent question, and you know I have absolutely no idea. Somebody should ask him.
Swopa?

or SWOPA: Sex Workers Online Protection Act

Way down on my list of things to do someday is to create a personal site, on which a page would be devoted to the many possible meanings of “Swopa” — including the two above.

Sadly, a couple of other sites using the acronym are defunct: The South-West Oklahoma Patrolmen’s Association, and (my fave) the Sexy World Of Pam Anderson.