So I have this friend, he is a right wing republican, and yet we get along (better outside of election season).

I wanted to know, am I crazy because I haven’t been persuaded. Below are a couple of his attempts:

So everyone and their dog is ranting about Ahmadinejad’s visit to New York, so why should I be different.

Why is this causing so much friction.  I know about the supposed links between Iran and the Iraq insurgency, I know about them developing nuclear technology, and I know how evil they are supposed to be.

My big thing is that we are being told all this by the same administration and media outlets that told us about how evil Iraq was, how they were developing nuclear technology and their link to Al-Qaeda.

Shouldn’t we embrace something like this, the opportunity for America to show their strength and tolerance?  For America to listen to the view of someone we are being told is our enemy?

Robert McNamara wrote “In Retrospect” (basis for the movie Fog of War) and I think these 4 of his 11 points have a lot to say about this situation:

1. We misjudged then — and we have since — the geopolitical intentions of our adversaries . . . and we exaggerated the dangers to the United States of their actions.

2. We viewed the people and leaders of South Vietnam in terms of our own experience. . . . We totally misjudged the political forces within the country.

3. We underestimated the power of nationalism to motivate a people to fight and die for their beliefs and values.

4. Our judgments of friend and foe alike reflected our profound ignorance of the history, culture, and politics of the people in the area, and the personalities and habits of their leaders.

In my view we should listen to Mr. Ahmadinejad as we can only stand to better understand the man, the culture and the society he presides over.

Technorati Tags: iran, iraq, Ahmadinejad, new york

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Seriously, how do you lose a hundreds of thousands of weapons in a war zone? Could this war and reconstruction be managed any worse? Between the complete failure of the US implementing the most basic of needs (healthcare, electricity), billion dollar no-bid contracts, and the increase in violence, how could anyone say things are improving.

This is been a fiasco since the git-go, I just hope we can get things figured out before an all-out civil war breaks out (or has it already?)

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Funny how people will look upon individuals that are at the time considered the most hanous of people, that even when events come to pass where the wronged have the opportunity to confront their enemy. The US now has determined that the members of “enemy organizations” shall not have the protections of law when they are judged.

I keep thinking of the opening statement by Justice Jackson at the start of the Nuremburg trial :

That four great nations, flushed with victory and stung with injury stay the hand of vengeance and voluntarily submit their captive enemies to the judgment of the law is one of the most significant tributes that Power has ever paid to Reason.

This was the trial for those that were considered the personification of evil. Their guilt was obvious, their crimes immense. We afforded them with the privileges of law.

Now, we need more focus on Reason, as the enemy has not revealed himself in uniform. The identification of the crimes and the perpetrators is increasingly difficult. The chance of the innocent being subjected to the same treatment of the guilty is great.

It is time once again to stay the hand of judgement and ensure that those that have conducted these crimes shall be punished, but also ensure that this justice is not tainted by crimes of our own.

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