I'm not impressed by Powell, but as you know I'm much less impressed with Bush - the anti-intellectual, do- nothing, know-nothing mistakenly elected president.
One sentence in that op-ed struck me as insightful, although not in the way the author intended.
"Hawkish posturing may entertain a certain political segment of the public. But it will not make the world a more peaceful place or our homeland more secure."
The key word there is "Posturing." The author is correct, posturing solves nothing. Action solves things. A military solution can only be effective for example if we totally destroy their ability to retaliate or to be a threat again. I'm very much in favor of that.
It would be nice to get multinational support, but we are really the only power that matters. We have the military and technology to be the world's policeman and I'm in favor of that role.
Not that it will happen but why the hell shouldn't there be a Panglobal United World of America? The hundreds of millions who starve to death every year because their govt won't give them food won't mind. Neither will the billions of women treated as chattel. Nor all the slaves in Africa, or the people dying from all manner of preventable illness. It would make the world a safer place as well.
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