Getting in our own way with foreign policy

It is Ramadan, the holy days of Islam.

Things look more and more problematic in Iraq.

And the current National Intelligence Estimate concludes that our invasion of Iraq in 2002 has increased Islamic extremist terrorism around the world exponentially. The Los Angeles Times headline lays it out in disturbingly stark words:
Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Fuels Terror - The conflict spreads extremism and serves as a laboratory for deadly tactics, says a bleak analysis by 16 U.S. intelligence units.
By Greg Miller, Times Staff Writer. September 24, 2006. To quote,

The war in Iraq has made global terrorism worse by fanning Islamic radicalism and providing a training ground for lethal methods that are increasingly being exported to other countries, according to a sweeping assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies.
The classified document, which represents a consensus view of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, paints a considerably bleaker picture of the impact of the Iraq war than Bush administration or U.S. intelligence officials have acknowledged publicly, according to officials familiar with the assessment.
"They conclude that the Iraq war has made it worse," said a government official familiar with the document who spoke on condition of anonymity because of its classified nature.
President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney repeatedly have described the war in Iraq as the central front in the war on terrorism and argue that Americans are safer as a result of the administration's policies.

We have actual neighbors around the world. The countries might be next door like Canada and Mexico, or halfway around the earth like Iran and Sudan. These countries are neighbors because they exist, not because we necessarily like or dislike them. They are facts of life with which to be dealt.
Every one of our neighbors around the world is more affected by what the United States actually does, rather than anything we can ever say. That is a fact of life in individual human interaction that carries over into international interaction. The so-called compromise between the White House and the Senate on the use of torture of detainees is a prime example of hypocracy that will come back to haunt us. A Washington Post article explains why. It says, "In effect, the agreement means that U.S. violations of international human rights law can continue as long as Mr. Bush is president, with Congress's tacit assent. If they do, America's standing in the world will continue to suffer, as will the fight against terrorism."Unsophisticated foreign policies - Our interactions with Canada should be equally rigorous whether their election went liberal or conservative. North Korea and its attendant dangers will not go away just because the administration refuses to talk to its leader. The economic difficulties in Mexico will not disappear after we reform immigration law. Iran's bombastic leader gathers support for his insults toward the West whether we have a functioning embassy in Teheran or not. And we cannot expect the United Nations to do all the heavy lifting in Lebanon and Darfur.
How do we help make things worse for ourselves with our neighbors? The Bush administration irrationally plays favorites among our neighbor nations. We are not utilizing the United Nations effectively. And our current president (OCP) goes into denial about the facts on the ground far away. Sometimes it becomes OCP talking past a country's leader in a prejoritive manner, rather than talking to the leader in intelligent, firm and frank ways. At times foreign policy is carried out via a third country, with the possibility of them getting it wrong. And often it is as simple an neglecting to financially support smart foreign policy efforts in troubled neighboring nations. And that does not mean that the nation need be nearby. With the way the world has shrunk, every nation in the world is only as far away as the click of a mouse, the beam of a satellite signal, or opening the lens of a digital satellite camera-phone.

Tags: Iraq Bush News Iran Islam current affairs News and politics culture foreign policy Middle East