[SmoothTalker]

"
I'm afraid we've subsidized the rise of Hamas, and have set the stage for 35 million Muslims to vote themselves into Islamic Theocracies, specifically in Afghanistan and Iraq. "

This worries me too. To be honest in a lot of ways having strongmen who can at least somewhat be controlled is better for our interests than the consequences of having free elections in the middle east. In things like the Hamas election, the rise of Iran's new leader, and cartoongate, Muslims have shown that they aren't ready for free institutions and that dangerous terrorists and fundamentalists do very well at the ballotbox. Creating free and open societies in the middle east is looking to be like a lot more of a task than anyone in the administration and anyone on here including myself could have possibly imagined. The amount of resources and the amount of time required to bring these people into the modern world will be tremendous.

[308MBR]

Yep.

Some dude called white envoy berated me on my private mail about my cartoon crack. Has that happened to anyone else?

[Alberta's Child]

To be honest in a lot of ways having strongmen who can at least somewhat be controlled is better for our interests than the consequences of having free elections in the middle east.

The implications of that statement are quite mind-boggling, even if -- no, especially if -- you are correct. It's quite bizarre for the U.S. to make this case while the most effective secular Islamic "strongman" in recent decades sits in an Iraqi jail during his trial in a legal system that is part of a fledgling democratic government that we ourselves established.

[claudiustg]

---Creating free and open societies in the middle east is looking to be like a lot more of a task than anyone in the administration and anyone on here including myself could have possibly imagined. ---

At least we tried.

That's what we'll be able to say if forced to deal with them with heavy weapons. This is not going to be a standoff.