What I find frustrating about the Cowboy Bush approach of only isolating and punishing our enemies is that we don't then have a chance to interact with and affect those enemies directly, in any other way but with those crude tools of isolation and punishment.

What I find frustrating about Kumbaya Carter's approach of only talking with our enemies is that he seems to believe that good intentions, a pure heart and talking is enough. He is a useful idiot to our enemies. With Jimmy Carter, as it is with so much of the "peace" left, its mostly about him, his own posture to the world, his being seen as a kind of Ghandi figure. "Look at me. I'm about peace at all costs."

Carter has a massive ego, as sure of his saintliness as any neo-con is sure of his grand moment in history.

Can't we do both? For instance, why can't we bend over backwards publically to put on the most peaceful, diplomatic, We Are the World face to the Iran's people and the world, while also secretly doing everything we can to sabotage the horrid regime there?

By doing so we would make any kinds of overt hostility by Ahmadinejad seem overkill to his people. He'd be seen as the crazy cowboy to Iranians. The US would seem like a puppy dog.

Why not have a big beautiful "summit" with Hamas to discuss everything their evil little hearts desire, while secretly letting them know we will give every bit of support to Israel to undermine that rotten regime?

In other words, why not do what our enemies are wonderful at doing: maintaining a sympathetic PR with the world while undercutting, fighting, and otherwise attacking the very country it is making public kissy-face with?

Let's be two faced!

Hate to tell you, be we already are.

Oh contraire. Since the Iraq debacle, I've just heard a lot of public saber ratttling, and seen very little action.

"Can't we do both? For instance, why can't we bend over backwards publically to put on the most peaceful, diplomatic, We Are the World face to the Iran's people and the world, while also secretly doing everything we can to sabotage the horrid regime there?"

Really? You don't think this is what is already going on in regards to Iran? Cuz it sure seems that way to me. Maybe not in exactly those terms. And maybe not successfully. But we are as good at talking out of both sides of our mouths as anybody else. Ahmadinejad is already unpopular. The Iranian people are still afraid we are going to attack them no matter what. And they are probably right.

I certainly have not seen any kind public relations kissy-face blitz as it pertains to Iran. I've heard nothing but hard words from Bush, and it looks like very little hard action.

I would like there to be this kind of PR blitz. Invite Ahmad' to come for dinner at the Crawford Ranch and give speeches, all the while bombing the shit out of any living thing that crosses the Iranian border into Iraq. And while he's here, privately threaten to kill him, his family and anyone who knows him.

Finally someone who speaks a language that terrorists understand. As for talk you have but look at history with the middle east to see talk doesn't work. Carter tried to negotiate for the release of the hostages taken by Iran...Result talk = Failure. We and the rest or our NATO allies tried and tried to talk to Saddam and what was the end result...Talk=Failure and in this case-invasion. Iran has had the benefit of seeing this happen first hand and to Iraq and still what we have there (to borrow a very old movie line) is failure to communicate. I do not necessarily agree with the Iraq invasion but it wasn't like we didn't give Saddam every chance first and Iran will be no different other than they probably really will have WMDs of a nuke variety.

Carter's an idiot. The man is so devoted to building this image of himself as some kind of Ghandi, searching for peace everywhere, that he becomes a useful idiot for our enemies.

The man should have his passport revoked for having gone to talk "peace" with Hamas.

Yeah, sadly, it seems the Arab and Muslim cultures are so hard-headed, so defiant of reason. Why, oh why, didn't Saddam give every opportunity for the UN to go inspect, when he knew everything for him was at stake?

The only thing I think you can do with terrorists, especially Muslim terrorists, is kill them, while doing everything nice possible to by the affection of would-be terrorists within their society. Sort of like Colombian drug cartel tactics: plata o plomo ("silver or lead"). God knows simple reason and moral persuasion will never work with those sick bastards.

{ I would like there to be this kind of PR blitz. Invite Ahmad' to come for dinner at the Crawford Ranch and give speeches, all the while bombing the shit out of any living thing that crosses the Iranian border into Iraq. And while he's here, privately threaten to kill him, his family and anyone who knows him.}

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Wow, wishful-thinking. Alas, things don't work that way. The Iranians are playing chess with the devil, USA and they know they can checkmate U in that area as soon as you launch your toys. Bush knows it that why he feels as if something is itching his ass but can't rub.

Amen!

{Why, oh why, didn't Saddam give every opportunity for the UN to go inspect, when he knew everything for him was at stake?}

Mere bulls**t! There are still some narrow-minded creatures who believe they hold wisdom. Seeing his country embroiled in problems up to the neck due to Bush's unwise policy, Carter thought he could help it have an honourable withdrawal with less loss or at low price.

Amen!

If Hamas was an Israeli guerilla group demanding of Israel to strictly obey the Torah or else, I could perfectly understand why Israel should not talk to it.

But once you go to someone else's land and occupy it for over 40 years and confiscate land and transfer civilians on to it and the people who are resisting you were born and raised under that occupation their entire lives, then you have no excuse whatsoever to not talk to these people regardless of what they think of you or have done to you.

And if you make the issue the resistance you're getting to your occupation and refuse to recognize the rights of the people you're occupying then you deserve everything coming your way/

Carter has no business whatsoever talking with Hamas. On who's behalf, exactly? What did his talking with them do but give Hamas a PR coup by making them look reasonable and worthy of sitting down with an ex-US president?

Honestly. How could Carter, sent by nobody, negotiate with anyone over anything? Who did he represent? What could he offer? Nothing of course.

This was about Carter and his ego, his desire to first and foremost look and sound peaceful, because that makes him a sweetheart, regardless of actual outcomes. It's all about him.

Hey, I'd be thrilled if Israel sat down with Hamas to get to some point where the two parties weren't killing each other. But that's up to Israel, not a foolish, selfish Carter on an ego trip.

You say it Opted4! Amen to that!

Power to Iran! Power to Ahmadinejad! May he continue to throw gay people off of buildings and hang them! May he continue to have women who he and the mullahs deem "impure" stoned to death! May he continue to torture, imprison and execute political dissidents! May he continue to have complete and utter control over the public airwaves and free expression in Iran! May he continue to run the Iranian economy into the ground! May he continue to provide endless weapons and training to Hezbollah so they can launch rocket attacks on Israel! May Iran continue to funnel weapons and fighters into Iraq to blow up GIs and Iraqi civilians! May he continue to work towards nuclear weapons which will give it complete cover to extend its tyranny throughout the Middle East!

THAT'll show Bush, heh?

What drives me nuts is when a lefty like Carter shows such mercy, open-mindedness, and understanding to genocidal, hateful thugs like Hamas, yet treat political enemies and fellow red-stater americans like they're the antichrist and his followers.

So, what, if Christians started suicide bombing, would the left insist we "understand where they're comming from" and "understand their frustrations"?

Kind when you should be cruel, cruel when you should be kind....

So true!

I think there is nothing more damning of the Carter-lefty, squishy "peace" pose than the recent applause and welcome that Columbia University gave to Ahmadinejad.

There the student body and "progressive" human-rights-obsessed faculty had the leader of one of the world's most horrid human rights abusers on stage. They laughed and applauded and gave him an ovation. He was treated like a star.

What do they do when perhaps obnoxious but otherwise innocuous people like Ann Coulter, David Horowitz or even Newt Gingrich show up to campus for speaking events? They throw pies and rotten tomatoes at them. They try to disrupt and keep them from speaking. They destroy the pamphlets and flyers announcing the event. They completely betray their supposedly tolerant values and respect for differing opinions.

They treat merely conservative Americans who they disagree with as if they were Nazis. All while sitting like nice boys and girls for actual tyrants.

This is the pose that I'm talking about, which Carter indulges in also in his own way. It's about being anti- and contra- everything that common sense requires, for the sake of looking radical.

It's that moral confusion which infects liberalism that is so disgusting and corrosive.

Dominance of biased attitudes

1/May he continue to throw gay people off of buildings and hang them!

2/May he continue to have women who he and the mullahs deem "impure" stoned to death!

3/May he continue to torture, imprison and execute political dissidents!

4/May he continue to have complete and utter control over the public airwaves and free expression in Iran!

5/May he continue to run the Iranian economy into the ground!

6/May he continue to provide endless weapons and training to Hezbollah so they can launch rocket attacks on Israel!

7/May Iran continue to funnel weapons and fighters into Iraq to blow up GIs and Iraqi civilians!

8/May he continue to work towards nuclear weapons which will give it complete cover to extend its tyranny throughout the Middle East!

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Don't you think we're taking everything for granted? Indeed we have always done.

First we designate an enemy that satisfies our own desires and whims, we demonise him/it, using all means and types of media available and, by loyalty or complicity, inculcate negative thoughts and stereotypes- evidence in support- often imaginary and/or improvised. And then, without adequate means, the enemy's only option to respond is to try to rally to his cause as many hostile people as possible who take a dim view of the intentions of the country or power with which they are or will be having such issues, here USA is meant.

As for your obsession of" May X continue to do Y", let me assure you that things are not that dark.

When people from all of the word watch American made films, they often tend to think that US citizens do live in a permanent state of Paranoia. This might to a certain extent be true. The same thing must be said about the rest of stereotyped images. The cold war could not be clearer as an era where both sides tried hard to distort the image of the other: Reds vs. Imperialists.

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As for Iran threatening Israel, everyone knows that he can't mean it; he only tries to shake and arouse people's feelings, taking advantage of the Middle East conflict, which is an attempt to demonstrate his/its ability of destabilization in the area.

Amen!