It's sad that some of our leading Democratic presidential candidates feel compelled to compete with one another to show who's tougher on national security.
Wes Clark, a four star general with 34 years of military service, has the courage to tell us what we sense is the truth - that saber rattling and aggression make us less safe and that living up to our own democratic ideals would give us the legitimacy to secure a safer more peaceful world.
It's good when our Democratic candidates speak up for children, education and health care. But there's a dissonance when in the next breath they feel compelled to talk tough on foreign policy. Carrying out those threats would put innocent children in the target country at risk undermining what we stand for, especially when all options have not been exhausted. Our soldiers deserve the same concern. Saber rattling for political effect may sound tough but it's really irresponsible and robs Democrats of our legitimacy as a Party.
To further complicate the strategy for Democrats as the 2008 election approaches, a weakened president, having backed himself and his Republican Party into a corner by his own malfeasance, may use the awesome power at his disposal to create a pre-election surprise, possibly a strike on Iran, in part to frighten the voters back into the Republican fold.
That's not to suggest our world is free of conflict.
But as Tom Rinaldo explained in his fine diary, http://www.dailykos.com/...
there is a way for Democrats to seize the mantel of authenticity on security without compromising our principles and it is the one that General Clark has spoken to.
General Clark has said many times that force should be used only as a "last, last, last resort" and that war is "awful". His experience makes him an unimpeachable spokesman for diplomacy and the rule of law.
Clark speaks plainly about the futility and horror of military aggression:
...human history is replete with examples of military conquest. You just call out the troops and roll over the opposition, and certainly that's true in the Middle East itself where armies and empires have marched and counter-marched for thousands of years. They've crossed continents, changed dynasties, implanted civilizations, besieged cities, in some cases stacked skulls, wiped out sizable populations.
We have nuclear weapons. Today, the widespread destruction of, of, of human populations is certainly a possibility, even without armies marching back and forth. But for the United States of America, if we aim to succeed in the world today, it won't be by wiping out populations. It'll be by changing people's minds and changing governments' policies. We've got to do a lot less threatening and a lot more listening and reasoning and rethinking.
http://securingamerica.com/...
Dismissing Rovian-style fear tactics that hype "terror" and "terrorists", Wes Clark says our security today depends, more than ever, on our legitimacy and adherence to the rule of law.
I know there's a few thousand or maybe a few tens of thousands of people out there who are impervious to logic, reason and any moral communication, but there are hundreds of millions, billions out there who watch the United States. They observe our actions in the world. They hear our rhetoric. They're not committed enemies, but they're not necessarily our friends yet. And if we want to succeed in the world, we've got to win over these people, at least to the legitimacy of our aims and purposes.
Right now, we've lost a crucial underpinning of America's safety, security and ultimate well being. It's what, for a century, has enabled America's power to be perceived as benign. It's enabled America's purposes to be perceived as noble. It's enabled America's allies to rally to just causes. It's enabled America's adversaries to be shoved into the corner and condemned as erroneous and morally wrong. It's what enabled Americans to travel abroad and conduct business with personal safety and be received with respect. It's enabled America's Armed Forces to be welcomed in foreign lands. In America's conduct abroad, others saw a reflection of what we enshrined in our own Constitution and in our system of government as our values - fairness, tolerance, decency, justice, mutual respect, personal opportunity. It's brought hundreds of thousands of youngsters to our shores to study and millions to seek to live. And it's been the secret of America's power and influence.
It is our legitimacy as a nation.
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http://securingamerica.com/...