Thread: Senator Obama's Memorial day speech!

Originally Posted by Navaja

Diplomacy with terrorists? Obviously you've already forgotten 911 and/or don't have any loved one been a victim of the attacks.

That attack was carried out by a handful of terrorists. Not by a country.
There is no reason at all not to talk with foreign governments.

Originally Posted by Navaja

Besides, the terrorists only interest is to destroy democracy.

Really? They might actually be a bit annoyed with the US meddling in the internal politics of their home countries. If the US had done to Belgium what it had done to Iran and Iraq, I'd hold a grudge to if my family was killed in the upheavals.
Do you really expect those people to shrug it off and forgive the US?
The present situation in Iraq and Iran was caused by the US. Both Saddam in Iraq and the fundies in Iran were helped into power by the CIA, causing thousands to die.
Btw, the gov in Iran at that time was democratically elected. It just commited the capital sin of not agreeing with the US.

Originally Posted by Navaja

If you have any doubts find out what the Castros, Chavez of the world are trying to accomplish.

And what is Chavez trying to accomplish?

Originally Posted by Navaja

But what can you expect, the only thing the man can do is "talk"

The curent administration has shown what the results are of the cowboy approach.
They'd have gotten further if they had talked. Not to mention they'd have saved themselves trillions of dollars.

>Hezbollah handed Carter his hat in his hand

Hesbollah was founded in 1982.

>Iran's leader is saying the same thing

Here's an interesting quote from a paper written by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace-
"...And in the Spring of 2003, around the time Baghdad was captured by US forces in around 3 weeks, the Iranian government sent out quiet feelers to the Bush administration expressing an interest in addressing their mutual points of contention. In the proposal, Iran suggested that, in exchange for a US commitment to recognize the Islamic Republic and its security interests, it would cooperate on the nuclear issue and Iraq. Iran also stated its willingness to support a two-state solution to Palestine, cease material support to Palestinian opposition groups, and facilitate Hizbollah's transformation into a "mere political organization within Lebanon" in the framework of an overall agreement. For a variety of reasons, the United States chose not to pursue or even acknowledge the overture. In other wods, Iran has shown that it is willing to put state interests ahead of ideology when it is expedient"

Iran has a history of trying to approach normal relations with the United States, but each time the United States haven't been interested.

>Besides, the terrorists only interest is to destroy democracy.

Well...
-The Palestinians want a state
- The Kurds want autonomy
- Saudi domestic terrorists want a non-corrupt local government
- Lebanese terrorists was a political system that is just and reflects the actual makeup of the local population
- Tamils want their own state

All these actually have no real beef with the United States. Even Al-Qaida is split over whether 9/11 was a good idea- there was a split within the organisation, with those who believed that the 'near enemy' (local corrupt governments) needed to be taken on rather than the 'far enemy' (a meddling United States).

FWIW: The terrorist problem in the UK / Ireland was only ssolved when the political arms of both parties finally agreed to talk and compromise. Both leaderships got flak for that, but after 30 years the bombings stopped. There is still a lot of struggle, but at least now it's political and diplomatic instead of physical.

I am not really up to date on the details of what, how and when, but this is what some of my UK and Irish friends told me.

Certainly! Any problem- especially one that involves violence- can only be truly solved if the people on the ground agree to the terms. "High politics" can only go so far until they run across on the ground problems in regards to reconciliation and healing old wounds.