Our American political system is broken. I have personally worked overseas for many years with the US State Department so I perhaps have a slightly different view of America and the American political system than the average American. What I see is that our government has made some disastrous choices in terms of who we have supported in the past and that some of those choices have generated some of the animosity. More importantly perhaps, we have simply failed to grab opportunities to generate positive relationships with the masses such as in Afghanistan after we helped the people defeat the Russians and then simply backed away without filling that vacuum with American aid and good will. As pointed out in the movie, CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR, if we had taken the time to invest in a few schools, roads power plants and hospitals and encourage a democratic government back then we could have prevented this entire radical Islam mess. Is anyone taking notes? Does anyone care??

I seriously wonder if we (as a nation) will ever learn from our past. Like it or not, America will continue to be at the center of global politics for a long time to come but the vast majority of our voting public is simply unaware and unconcerned with global issues and they continue to elect those like themselves to public office. (Remember how ignorant George Bush was of global issues when he was elected by a public that didn't seem to think that was important?) I am personally of the opinion that no one should be able to run for national public office in the future until they have a Master's degree in international relations that would arm them with all the historical and political-diplomatic information they need to make the right choices.

While it may be unrealistic to expect our politicians to support such an amendment, even if a grass-roots movement to produce such change in our system failed, it would raise the awareness of the public about the importance of global issues.

An example of how disabling it can be for our country to have politicians who are unaware of the facts is stated well in the following excellent article by Charles Krauthammer. Mr. Krauthammer reminds us about the actual historical events that led up to our current war with terrorism and we all need to keep these facts in mind as we struggle to deal with the conflict on several levels; learning from the mistakes of our past and applying the appropriate pressures and techniques that reflect that awareness as we move forward. I believe it is very reasonable to expect that our leaders know this kind of stuff.

-Michael James Jaquish


Obama got U.S.-Muslim history wrong
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER; THE WASHINGTON POST
Published: 01/30/09

WASHINGTON - Every new president flatters himself that he, kinder and gentler, is beginning the world anew. Yet, when Barack Obama in his inaugural address reached out to Muslims with "to the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect," his formulation was needlessly defensive and apologetic.

Is it "new" to acknowledge Muslim interests and show respect to the Muslim world? Obama doesn't just think so, he said so again to millions in his al-Arabiya interview, insisting on the need to "restore" the "same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago."

Astonishing. In these most recent 20 years - the alleged winter of our disrespect of the Islamic world - America did not just respect Muslims, it bled for them. It engaged in five military campaigns, every one of which involved - and resulted in - the liberation of a Muslim people: Bosnia , Kosovo , Kuwait , Afghanistan and Iraq .

The two Balkan interventions - as well as the failed 1992-93 Somali intervention to feed starving African Muslims (43 Americans were killed) - were humanitarian exerc ises of the highest order, there being no significant U.S. strategic interest at stake. In these 20 years, this nation has done more for suffering and oppressed Muslims than any nation, Muslim or non-Muslim, anywhere on earth. Why are we apologizing?

And what of that happy U.S.-Muslim relationship that Obama imagines existed "as recently as 20 or 30 years ago" that he has now come to restore? Thirty years ago, 1979, saw the greatest U.S.-Muslim rupture in our 233-year history: Iran's radical Islamic revolution, the seizure of the U.S. embassy, the 14 months of America held hostage.

Which came just a few years after the Arab oil embargo that sent the United States into a long and punishing recession. Which, in turn, was preceded by the kidnapping and cold-blooded execution by Arab terrorists of the U.S. ambassador in Sudan and his charge d'affaires.

This is to say nothing of the Marine barracks massacre of 1983, and the innumerable attacks on U.S. embassies and installations around the world during what Obama now characterizes as the halcyon days of U.S.-Islamic relations.
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Look. If Barack Obama wants to say, as he said to al-Arabiya, I have Muslim roots, Muslim family members, have lived in a Muslim country - implying a special affinity that uniquely positions him to establish good relations - that's fine. But it is both false and deeply injurious to this country to draw a historical line dividing America under Obama from a benighted past when Islam was supposedly disrespected and demonized.
As in Obama's grand admonition: "We cannot paint with a broad brush a faith as a consequence of the violence that is done in that faith's name."

Have "we" been doing that, smearing Islam because of a small minority? George Bush went to the Islamic Center in Washington six days after 9/11, when the fires of Ground Zero were still smoldering, to declare "Islam is peace," to extend fellowship and friendship to Muslims, to insist that Americans treat them with respect and generosity of spirit.

And America listened. In these seven years since 9/11 - seven years during which thousands of Muslims rioted all over the world (resulting in the death of more than 100) to avenge a bunch of cartoons - there's not been a single anti-Muslim riot in the United States to avenge the greatest massacre in U.S. history. On the contrar y. In its aftermath, we elected our first Muslim member of Congress and our first president of Muslim parentage.

"My job," says Obama, "is to communicate to the American people that the Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives and see their children live better lives."

That's his job? Do the American people think otherwise? Does he think he is bravely breaking new ground? George Bush, Condoleezza Rice and countless other leaders offered myriad expressions of that same universalist sentiment.

Every president has the right to portray himself as ushering in a new era of this or that. Obama wants to pursue new ties with Muslim nations, drawing on his own identity and associations. Good. But when his self-inflation as redeemer of U.S.-Muslim relations leads him to suggest that pre-Obama America was disrespectful or insensitive or uncaring of Muslims, he is engaging not just in fiction but in gratuitous disparagement of the country he is now privileged to lead.

Charles Krauthammer is a Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post columnist. He can be reached at letters@charleskrauthammer.com.