Worldly Manners --Part I

In light of the election season, I have decided to pick and read Dr. Ron Paul's, Revolution. His theories and ideas have appealed to me, as of late. His book starts out just as interesting.

He begins with Foreign Policy in the United States. While he agrees the 9/11 was a great tragedy, and that the perpetrators need to be hunted and punished; he states that it is important to understand the motivation of the terrorist group.

Paul believes that it goes beyond religious extremism. He states that, more significantly, it has to do the occupation and the attitude of the American foreign affairs. Paul noted that not a single terrorist involved in 2001 came from countries like Iraq or Iran. Rather, some were home to Saudi Arabia and others- where the U.S. Military keeps a close watch with armed soldiers on a daily basis and has done so for decades. The collaboration of the Al Queda group has more to do with personal and political grievances than with Islam, though extremists use it as a substantial backing for their murderous mission.

Paul sites Michael Sheuer, chief of the Counter Terrorist Center for the CIA during the 1990s. Shuer was known to vote Republican but made a very unpopular statement staking that the Middle East frustration on the meddling of the US government. Shuer was also known to believe that sheer hatred and ideological disdain for Western thinking is not enough for a group to join forces and terrorize a nation. Rather, once again, it stems from understandable reactions from people who may have been affected by forced democratic freedom.

Ron Paul criticized both the Clinton administration and the Bush administration for failure to recognize that policing other nations, rather than simply offering humanitarian aid or free trade, only causes strife among foreign relationships- in the Middle East, Africa and others.

Two of the most extremist Islamic governments in the world, he noted, are not responsible for the crisis of terrorism- Sudan and Iran- thus again proving the religious motivation is only secondary to the complaint against American foreign policies.

None of these things are to say that the U.S. is a horrible nation, not at all, BUT the swing in political attitude toward the world has made an enormous difference in our standing in the world.

Along the line of presidents in the 20th Century, it was Democrat associated leaders, such as Woodrow Wilson, FDR, Lyndon B. Johnson, that aimed to stretch the wings of American military and political strength. Oddly the tables have turned.

More to come...