The Diplomatic Power of Battleships On The Horizon

President Bush has been everybody's favorite whipping boy lately, but I think we might do well to look carefully at the week he spent in the Middle East not long ago promoting a peace plan. He was negotiating from a position of strength that other recent U. S. presidents did not have, because we now have a military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite all its nay Sayers, the war we are in has done two things that are very good. First, as much as people with a liberal political philosophy would like to forget what happened on 9-11-01, the fact is we WERE attacked on our own soil, 3000 of our brightest and best were murdered in cold blood, and the heart of our largest city was blown apart. The good that has come from that day is that, for the first time since World War II, this nation did not cower down and surrender to the bullies of the world. They learned we will fight. We are a military power in the Middle East, and the terrorists and those who allow them to operate, know we are winning there. Second, military strength has always been a part of successful diplomacy. A historical saying that came from the era when a young, upstart nation called the United States of America sent warships to "the shores of Tripoli" puts it this way: Serious negotiations BEGIN when an opponent's warships show up on the horizon. It seems to me if we accept the fact that George W. Bush is the President of us all, and not a candidate to be destroyed, he will be able to achieve in the Middle East the peace that eluded Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton and so many others.<br /> <br /> <I>This is Gordon Sawyer, and may the wind always be at your back.</I>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2008/2/206709