US Gunboat Diplomacy in Lebanon Again

Just a bit paranoid Andrew.

After all, given your previous article on Ashura, you seem to be able to navigate the byways and alleys of Dahieh with ease, and even manage to strike up conversations with Hizballah men sprouting mid-western accents.

Given Hizballah's penchent for tight security, especially in the post 2006 war with Israel, its readily apparent that one does not travel in that part of the country without the express consent of the militia's leadership.

And as compared with those formative years, Hizballah has gone downright legit. It's now a member of the Lebanese national government, with members in Parliment.

Of course, your fears do remind the rest of the world that at its heart, Hizballah remains all so ready to direct violence against civilians to achieve its goals. Indeed, its threats following the assassination of Murghniya all to readily highlight the fact that for all its claims to respectibility and responsibility, it remains nothing more than a terrorist group in populists clothing.

Hi Andrew, How is it that when Hizbullah threatens the USA and Israel from Lebanon you do not call it KATUSHA DIPLOMACY. How is it you mix up the facts again calling the USA's enterance into Lebanon a chance to extradite Israel from Lebanon. Wasn't Israel in Lebanon 18 years after the USA left? Didn't Israel succeed in kicking Arafat and his henchmen out of Labanon. Syria is not as dumb as they seem. They know that behind the Cole there are other ships and air planes in the US Mediterranean fleet not far off. They get the message. That is - the USA does not agree with Syria harboringing terrorists, with Hizbullah fighting the chance for peace between Fatah and Israel, the the chance for a Lebanon to be democratic. PS - the UN is also in Lebabnon too, so you can calm down.

Andrew - how refreshing to see a journalist (and an American journalist at that) with a memory longer than just yesterday.

Your points are right on.

Whoever gives Bush advice on his ME policies should be flogged. To send warships to the east Mediterranean (especially the USS Cole) is stupid beyond belief. No one believes this move isn't related to the situation in Lebanon and Syria.

We got sucked into the Lebanese civil war because 20-30 years ago our President was getting faulty ME advice as well.

Jason's criticism of your blog entry and his analysis of events is so far off, it's hard to know where to begin except to ignore them.

I must mention, lest it be forgotten, that while Israel was in Lebanon 'kicking Arafat and his henchmen out of Labanon' they also surrounded Palestinian refugee camps full of unarmed civilians, including elderly men, women and children. The French and U.S. lost their credibility when they promised Arafat that the remaining Palestinian civilians would be safe if the PLO fighters would just lay down their weapons and leave peacefully. The PLO agreed, trusting France and the U.S. at their word.

As Israel surrounded the camps, they allowed the Palestinians' most feral enemies, the Lebanese Christian Phalangists to enter the camps and commit a massacre that lasted three days - and nights. The accomodating IDF fired flares into the air during the nights to allow the Phalangists to see better.

When people were finally allowed to enter the camps, horses, dogs, cows, babies, mothers, old men and women were slaughtered.

Yea, I guess one would call this a 'success'; some would call it 'disastrous' and I would have to lean towards that judgement.

As long as the U.S. chooses to follow bad foreign policy advice, refuses to listen to those without an agenda and who really KNOW the region, we should just stay out of the region so we aren't naively sucked in again.

Maybe that support is what gave the Israely ministry of defense the guts to anounce they will commit another holocaust against the miserable Palastenian people!

Anyone that calls the israely army being successful in Lebanon,is an ignorant of facts,or an anti-human rights!

Jason,
all you do is write letters sticking to each other making none sence words. man how do you see the killings Israeli are doing in Gaza now. You should be there to see how hard it is to loose a child or a wife or a father or mother. man dont you have abit of humanity. you support the US and Israel thats your right to do but you can not accept that Israel is killing 1000s of people who are innocent. i dont want to write alot man at the end what ever i say will not convince you but i would like you to read the UN opion about the Israeli attacks and see Human Rights what do they say perhaps this would let you know understand how bad the situation is because of Israel.

The people being attacked in Gaza are the same ones that supported Hamas by general election that supported Sadam Hussein when he shot Scuds into Israel are the same ones that supported suicide bombers. The only reason that they have not succeeded in killing as many Israels as they lose is because Israeli leaders care more about their own people than the Palestinian leaders care about theirs and protect them more. If the Palestinians live in a glass house then they should not be throwing stones or Iranian made Grods. Any equation you have will have to consider that Israel is going to defend her citizens as she has done in the past.

Hamas was elected democratically and by overwhelming margins in Gaza. It has never once honored a cease-fire with Israel. Following Israel’s withdrawal of its soldiers and settlements from the Strip in 2005 there was a six-fold increase in the number of Kassam strikes on Israel.

Hamas has also made no effort to rewrite its 1988 charter, which calls for Israel’s destruction. The charter is explicitly anti-Semitic: “The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!” (Article Seven) “In order to face the usurpation of Palestine by the Jews, we have no escape from raising the banner of Jihad.” (Article 15) And so on.

It would seem perverse for Israeli taxpayers, including residents of Sderot, to feed the mouth that bites them. It would seem equally perverse for Israel merely to bide its time for an especially unlucky day — a Kassam hitting a busload of schoolchildren, for instance — before striking hard at Gaza. But unless Israel is willing to accept the military, political and diplomatic burdens of occupying all or parts of Gaza indefinitely, the effects of a major military incursion could be relatively short-lived. Israel suffered many more casualties before it withdrew from the Strip than it has since.

The more vexing question, both morally and strategically, is what Israel ought to do about Gaza. The standard answer is that Israel's response to the Kassams ought to be "proportionate." What does that mean? Does the "proportion" apply to the intention of those firing the Kassams -- to wit, indiscriminate terror against civilian populations? In that case, a "proportionate" Israeli response would involve, perhaps, firing 2,500 artillery shells at random against civilian targets in Gaza. Or should proportion apply to the effects of the Kassams -- an exquisitely calibrated, eye-for-eye operation involving the killing of a dozen Palestinians and the deliberate maiming or traumatizing of several hundred more?

So Hamas gets to play its Sederot Gambit with impunity and insignificant cost to itself or to Gazans. Hamas can make life unendurable for thousands of Israelis who simply want to live in their own country. And the gambit is working not because of Israel's own lack of options, but because the West, which could make life very hard for Hamas and could interdict its supplies of lethal materials from Iran, averts its eyes, pretends it isn't happening, and washes its hands of the whole situation.

since Israel’s total withdrawal over two years ago, thousands of rockets and mortars have been launched daily against Israeli towns--especially Sderot--causing millions of dollars in damage, death, injury, shock, and terror. Indeed, reading the article, it looks like Israel brought the crisis on itself. I mean, how dare the Jews go after those who repeatedly target them! Turn the other cheek, Jew! As stated above, Israel’s Gaza withdrawal had to be done correctly in order for it to work.

No nation would put up with what Israel has put up with from Gaza.

Israel has the ability to disintegrate it as America and the Brits did to Dresden, Hiroshima, and so forth. And make no mistake here, the aims of the Arabs for the Jews are no different today than when Muhammad Amin al-Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem, made his alliance with Hitler.

What would an America, which dwarfs Israel to the point of making the latter virtually invisible, do if Texas border towns were subjected to daily terror and bombardment? Would it limit itself to having to just locate the exact folks firing the rockets, mortars, and such? Indeed, who has tried more than the Jews to indeed do just that...not that it makes any difference to the world’s assorted practitioners of the double standard.

the Arabs’ 22nd state, and second one in “Palestine” (who’s demanding a state for over thirty million stateless Kurds?), Jews should not be expected to sacrifice themselves on the petroleum-greased altar of international hypocrisy for that additional new state to arise.

Israel owes the Arabs of Gaza (or anywhere) nothing. It improved their education, health, and other living conditions immensely after 1967. Recall that Egypt held it from 1949 until then.

What nation is expected to supply those who seek its destruction with fuel, food, electricity, and so forth? You’ve got to be kidding, right?

But that’s exactly what’s expected of the Jew of the Nations. Like when, after it was attacked in 1973, Israel was pressured by America to release its stranglehold on the Egyptian Third Army. And just like America would have listened to someone demanding the same of us given similar circumstances...And does anyone want to be my comedy manager?

The Arab world holds much of the world’s wealth due to its black gold. Instead of paying out tens of thousands of dollars each to families whose relatives--shahids--blow themselves up along with their Jewish victims, the money needs to be spent helping their brethren on a more positive life path.

As Jews received anything but help from Arabs in resurrecting and sustaining their sole, tiny state, it’s beyond chutzpah that Arabs expect that Israel will continue to assist them in any way while they continue to launch death and destruction against Jews. Should be a no brainer...

Making its controversial decision to withdraw, Israel must now cut itself off completely from Gaza and treat it as any other nation would if attacked from it. And it must ignore the outcries from those who fire bombed or nuked innocent German, Japanese, and other civilians when circumstances of war prevailed (not that the latter were any better in their own conduct).

Up until now, much of the world’s continuing collective Jew or Jew of the Nations problem has helped Arabs to avoid this political maturity. So Israel gets the special Jew treatment and is forced to act against its own national interests and security as no other nation would be expected to do.

It’s up to Israel to have the backbone to resist this. Any hardship suffered by Arab civilians must henceforth be placed on the Arabs’ own doorsteps. The pain and suffering of Israel’s Sderot isn’t going to be relieved by Saudi and other Arab oil despots...but the latter can help fellow rejectionist Arabs in Gaza. Let the former pour in the money to build infrastructure, power plants, and so forth. Let Egypt deal with its Gazan Arab brethren for food, medicine, and such...after all, it’s already allowing the smuggling of huge quantities of armaments and explosives to kill Jews. Recall that Egypt has a “peace treaty” with Israel...

Jacob,

No need to hijack the conversation and turn it into a treatise on Hizballah history. I believe Andrew's point is that power weaponry is of limited use in a guerrilla style campaign where strategic targets do not exist. In this type of conflict, there is no well defined territory to capture and hold, there is no high ground, there is no set chain of command, there are no factories, there are no supply lines, there are no convoys...you get the idea.

I agree with Andrew on this one. The US military is ill-suited for this type of war. The Middle East is still an enigma to many Americans, and somehow, America always finds a way to underestimate Middle Eastern resentment of external influence and pressure.

And Blackjack: you are right. Israel owes the Palestinians nothing. Except the lives of all the women and children Israel has killed in the name of security. Except the land stolen from under the Palestinians feet. Except the food and water and jobs lost because of the separation barrier. Except the dignity Israel took from a people she treats as second class humans. But of course, Israel's elite citizens, the chosen ones, the educated wealthy families with full bellies, owe nothing to the poor desperate hungry Palestinian looking for a place to call home.

Nathan,

First, Andrew's a big boy and can stand behind his own writing.

I did nothing of the sort when you declare I've 'hijacked his latest blog, especially when you see where it went following my post (right into a discussion on the escalating violence in Israel and Gaza over the past week).

Andrew's argument about the Cole shows a thin veneer as to what the ship represents and its potential uses, which Andrew leaves as meaningless seeming to miss the vessel's potential uses.

However, his comments about Hizballah as a populist movement ring hollow for a man who's given apparent carte blanche to walk in Hizballah's stronghold, and even attend Ashura services.

It is incredulus that on one hand he can praise the movement as a pure expression of the will of 'the People', yet in the same breath raise the specter that this group is able and willing to commit violence against civilians.

The idea that the US is ill suited to a guerilla war seems at odds with Andrew's complaint over the USS Cole. Since it seems highly unlikely that its going to sling rockets into Syria. Especially when there is the US airforce ready to act from a vast distance as Iraq.

As for the idea that the Middle East is an enigma, shows more of the "US can't understand the mysterious ways of the "pick a foreign land". Which is a bunch of rubbish. The Power struggle in Lebanon is no different than any other in the world, and the idea that resentment only works one way is foolish at best. There is a real reason over 1 million people came out to memorialize Hariri a few weeks ago.

And as for hijacking, you can re-examine your own last paragraph. Nice political manifesto though. When you're done with the soapbox, you can pass it back to TIME's bloggers.

I completely disagree Jacob. What potential uses could the Cole have other than hitting high profile targets? Naval bombardments only work when you have targets like barracks, state offices, government compounds, etc.

America's first involvement in the Middle East was during the Barbary Wars when Pirates harassed foreign trade vessels, capturing them and demanding ransom from their country of origin. The US built gunboats then too, and threated the state actors like Tripoli. It worked, but only because the US could station their gunboats offshore and threaten to destroy the Sultan's castles. Who is the Cole going to attack here? I see this latest move as a useless, outdated gesture.

My suggestion that America cannot fight against the type of conflict is supported by Andrew's statement that "nor would [the Cole] be much use in the shadow war of terror attacks against Lebanon's pro-American politicians". The Middle East has been fighting their wars in the shadows ever since the end of WWI; it is rare for state actors to amass large armies and take them to battle. America's army has been tooled for the large scale conflicts of the Cold War era where there was only one hostile state, and that is why it is still ill suited for the nuances of the Middle East.

And the Middle East is still an enigma here in America. People here do not understand the complex tribal relationships. They do not understand Islam. Only just recently have people outside of academics heard the words Shia and Shiite. Ask someone what a Druze is, or a Bedouin, and they'll shake their heads. The fact that Bush could convince the majority of Americans that Saddam Hussein was in some way responsible for 9/11, shows how ignorant Americans can be when it comes to the Middle East.

If you are really curious about how little America knows about the Middle East, pick up a copy of the book "Power, Faith, and Fantasy". It's a great read on America's involvement in the region. It covers the basics from America's independence all the way up to the present day, and it describes how America continues to view the Middle East in terms of power, faith, and fantasy. The book devotes a fair share of time documenting how the American public views the Middle East through the lens of Hollywood, and with a heavy element of fantasy.

NATHAN ARE YOU ON DRUGS OR SOMETHING ONE MORE TIME AGAIN, ONE MORE TIME, SEE IF YOU CAN FILLOW THE WORDS ABOUT ISREAL GIVEING THE POOR PALIS A LANDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD TRY TO CONCENTRATE HERE GOESSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Palestinians Said NO to Peace 8 Times in the Last 65 Years

1) In 1937, when Britain under the Mandate offered the Peel Commission plan.

2) In 1947, when the UN proposed the establishment of two states in the region � one Jewish, one Arab.

3) In 1948, when Israel�s Proclamation of Independence invited the Palestinians to remain in their homes and become equal citizens in the new state.

4) In 1967, when Israel offered to return all the territories conquered in return for peace.

5) In 1978-9, when Israel offered the acceptance of Palestinian autonomy in exchange for peace at Camp David I.

6) In 1993, when Arafat signed the Oslo accords, promised to renounce terrorism and recognize Israel, and then declared on Jordanian television that he had taken the first step �in the 1974 plan.� This was a thinly veiled reference to the �phased plan,� according to which any territorial gain was acceptable as a means toward the ultimate goal of Israel�s destruction.

7) In 2000, at Camp David II when Israel accepted the Clinton Plan and the Palestinians did not.

8) In 2001, when Israel�s PM Ehud Barak offered Yasser Arafat East Jerusalem, 97% of the �West Bank� and 3% compensation from Israel�s territory, in addition to all of Gaza (the Taba Negotiation), and Arafat turned it down without so much as a counteroffer.

ONE MORE TIME FOR NATHAN

Palestinians Said NO to Peace 8 Times in the Last 65 Years

1) In 1937, when Britain under the Mandate offered the Peel Commission plan.

2) In 1947, when the UN proposed the establishment of two states in the region � one Jewish, one Arab.

3) In 1948, when Israel�s Proclamation of Independence invited the Palestinians to remain in their homes and become equal citizens in the new state.

4) In 1967, when Israel offered to return all the territories conquered in return for peace.

5) In 1978-9, when Israel offered the acceptance of Palestinian autonomy in exchange for peace at Camp David I.

6) In 1993, when Arafat signed the Oslo accords, promised to renounce terrorism and recognize Israel, and then declared on Jordanian television that he had taken the first step �in the 1974 plan.� This was a thinly veiled reference to the �phased plan,� according to which any territorial gain was acceptable as a means toward the ultimate goal of Israel�s destruction.

7) In 2000, at Camp David II when Israel accepted the Clinton Plan and the Palestinians did not.

8) In 2001, when Israel�s PM Ehud Barak offered Yasser Arafat East Jerusalem, 97% of the �West Bank� and 3% compensation from Israel�s territory, in addition to all of Gaza (the Taba Negotiation), and Arafat turned it down without so much as a counteroffer.

SO NATHAN YOU WANT ALL OF THE LAND FOR THE PALESTINIANS IS THAT IT.

judienrien would be more in my understanding that you had in mind nathan right.

Blackjack:

1) Why should the Palestinians 'accept' the Peel Commission's proposal? They were the majority population which owned the majority of the land. They were the indigenous population who had lived on the land for thousands of years. The new, Jewish immigrants were a very small percentage of the population, owned very little land and were seen (rightly so) as foreigners from Europe with no legitimate claim to the land. Their thinking was, why should they give up any land to a minority, foreign population. [Not to mention, the British had also promised Arabs in the region that helped them fight the Ottomans, independence and sovereignty.]

2)See #1. Still held true.

3) Words only. Israeli military archives opened in late 20th cent. substantiated what the Palestinians had said for decades - they had been ethnically cleansed against their will. The opened archives revealed 'Plan D' which strategically outlined the deliberate de-population of both urban and rural areas of Palestians since it was determined that there were simply too many Palestinians for a Jewish State. Over 500 Palestinian villages were razed and homes destroyed immediately following their expulsion so they COULD NOT return.

4) ??? Actually, the UN had to write up some resolutions (recall UN 242) that still haven't been implemented by Israel.

5) ??? Even President Jimmy Carter - who is - you gotta admit - the expert on the Camp David Accords, stated in his book that he was extremely disapointed with Israel when they didn't go through with their promise to grant autonomy to the Palestinians in the O.T.

6) Arafat made a GIGANTIC concession when he recognized Israel in 1988. He gave up 78% of historic Palestine and many Palestinians did not agree with this decision. As for the rest of your statement, anyone can see the bias.

7 & 8) Both offers were full of holes and core issues that weren't realistically addressed. It was easy for Israel to accept; these offers were written in their favor - not so for Palestinians who if they had accepted would have gained nothing and lost everything. There was no way Arafat could have accepted the piecemeal, non-contiguous, unviable solution(s) offered at the time.

If Israel truly just wants peace, security and to get along with their neighbors, why didn't they accept the Beirut Summit offer of 2002? This offer, supported by ALL the pertinent Arab players in the region including Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan - and the Palestinians, outlined normalization of both political and economic relations between their neighbors and Israel if Israel would simply implement the int'l laws on the books such as pulling out from the Occupied Territories.

ALL Israel's neighbors would have recognized Israel and normalized relations. This again, is a GIANT concession as Israel was artificially created in the region. It's a recognition that Israel is there to stay, but basic human rights for the Palestinians must be resolved.

Oh and Blackjack - no, personally I don't want all the land for Palestinians. It doesn't HAVE to be a zero-sum game.

Optimally, I would like to see one democratic, secular country where no people are discriminated against based on their ethnicity or religion. This country would guarantee open access to all religious sites for all religions and determine their political preferences through elections, not violence.

It really doesn't matter what Blackjack thinks, or people like him who keep trotting out the same justification for both ethnic cleansing via the settlements and having to administer the two largest open air prisons in the world.

The inmates are rioting.

The US won't really be able to influence the outcome there as our thinking is still inside the box as is Israel's.

Cheap rocket technology has changed the paradigm in warfighting, giving resistances, based in the popularity of their constituant populations, the ability to counter even the most heavily armed and technlolgically advanced governments.

The US and Israel are trying hard to pretend this situation doesn't exist. Israel/Hizbollah II will be no more successful than Israel/Hizbollah I, or, more recently the incursion in Gaza.

This means, for the first time, that the hell visited on the Palestinians by the IDF can be visited on the Isrealis as well.

Israel truly faces a situation where they cannot stop rocket fire.

Because Gaza is so small, and the IDF has the resources to "flood" the area with troops, they might, *might*, surpress rocket fire while they are there, but even if they do, they will have to stay, tied down, to keep fire from resuming.

Isreal just is not big enough or omnipotent enough to stop rocket fire from anywhere.

It is now time for Israel to learn that running open air prisons, deterence by rocketing homes of individuals already dead (the high tech version of bulldozing), checkpoints, arrogance, and not more than a little virulent racism must end. The days of "negotiating from strength" are OVER.

Israel will have to learn to do something it has NEVER done before - extend its' hand in peace (not as defined Blackjack). It also must learn to compromise (Jeruselem and those ridiculous "settlements") and maybe accept something resembling the Saudi plan.

Eventually, despite the ridiculous "lion fearing the mouse" hysteria about talk of destruction by Arab neighbors, they WILL have to take the risk they have always used it to avoid.

In the end, extremists on both sides will be mooted by developements.

It's time to forget the excuses about religious history, conflict, and the so-called "complexity" of the issue and get it done.

THEN we can all have peace.

Blackjack is just a "settler" on crack.

You know 53/2, there was an article in Foreign Affairs, about 5 years ago. It was written by an colonol in the IDF titled "are suicide bombs the Palestinians nuclear weapon".

The article went on to discuss the strategy of suicide bombs, and equating them with a nuclear strategy because of the inability of the IDF to counter them, noting the growing civilian casualties, which could send Israel to its knees.

The publishing of this article sent waves of energy to the Palestinians and their supporters. They finally found a way to equalize the power equation with Israel...victory was finally at hand.

Or not.

The truth is, the suicide bombs were not nuclear weapons, and that while devestating to the civilians in the area, held none of the wider impact of even a small nuclear weapon, including the lingering effect of radiation.

More interesting though, is the fact that Israel did manage to find a way to combat the bombers. The methods included a major incursion by the IDF into the West Bank (and later the Gaza Strip), harsh attacks against individual militants (those helicopter rockets otherwise known as 'targeted killings', including against the militant leaders), the building of the security fence, and increasing the checkpoints and barriers in the West Bank and Gaza (prior to Israel's disengagement now about two and a half years ago).

The long-winded point I'm making here is that 'cheap rocket technology' has not changed the power structure between Israel and the Palestinians, and the only thing preventing Israel from initiating a devestating response, is Israel. Israel has the ability to decide how much force to use, Israel has the ability to decide how much pressure its going to put on the Palestinians. And given the force available, it has come nowhere near its potential to inflict harm on the Palestinian population of Gaza.

Given that the 'extremists' are the ones running the show in Gaza, I fail to see how Israel 'extending its hand in peace' as equals will work. Especially when the group in question (HAMAS) clings to the idea(l) of killing every Jew and wiping out Israel as part of its central party platform. There is no peace or equals when one side in a conflict only wants you dead.

Meanwhile, Hizballah/Israel II, should it occur, will realize that Hizballah is not the only combatant that can adapt. Nor is their a requirement that it is the organization that is allowed to prepare to strike the first blow and have their defenses in place in a fight.

Nathan, you’re argument presumes that the USS Cole has the same ability to launch weapons as the USS Missouri did. It’s not a battleship, but a guided missile destroyer. At best, it’s carrying some tomahawk cruise missiles. The limited quantities and capabilities of these weapons make it an unlikely source for hitting ‘high profile’ targets. Especially guerrilla ones, and even less likely into Syria given the placement of over 100,000 US troops and airmen in Syria’s neighbor Iraq.

What the Cole does have though, is defensive capabilities, including surface to air missiles, anti-missile weapons systems, and anti-submarine weapons. Indeed, the ship is expected to be part of a larger naval contingent.

What other purposes could it serve? Perhaps to protect other vessels in the event that US nationals need to flee Lebanon should we see another round of fighting between Hizballah and Israel.

Your inability to see the ship’s uses doesn’t mean that there aren’t any. It just means that you cannot figure it out.

As for shadow fighting, the Middle East has had its fair share of out in the open fighting as well. Iran/Iraq, Egypt/Saudi Arabia, Morocco/Western Sahara, and the Arab/Israeli wars of 48, 56, 67, and 73 to name a few.

But let’s look at the ‘shadow war’. Hizballah derives its strength in large part due to the armaments provided by Iran. If the actions over the past several months are any indication, Syria is getting put in the hot seat over its relations with the militia as well as various Palestinian militant groups. Should Syria ‘turn’ Hizballah has only one source of weapons and men and that’s the ocean. Ah, but why bother to put a navy ship there…it’s useless.

And I’m not buying the enigma argument. That one keeps on coming up any time someone from far away wants to try to raise the idea that the poor young ignorant United States can hardly understand the mysterious ways of the, pick a region, nation, state, whatever. It’s a bunch of bull. I’m sorry, but the idea that only ivory tower academics understand the ‘complex tribal relationships’ and ‘Islam’ doesn’t cut it. There are plenty of experts in the State Dept, intelligence services, and military, who do understand such complexities, and it is they, not your average Joe six-pack, that is involved in such conflict.

As for “W”’s ability to convince the US that Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11 shows that it takes an unprecedented terrorist attack on major US cities for people to become so concerned for their own safety that they’re willing to bend reality. Of course, I think you’re happy to remain silent on the idea that the majority of the Arab world thought (and possibly still thinks) that the 9/11 attacks were the work of Israel rather than al-Queda. But no matter, they’re just part of that ‘mysterious’ Middle East, so maybe their belief in that conspiracy theory, is something we just don’t understand.

Yes, Michael Oren is a good author, and Power Faith and Fantasy has been on my to-read list for some time. But we’re not dealing with the American public here, but the US government and certainly not Hollywood.

How much longer can this go on?
I would hope that the clock has almost run out on the whole independent Palestine experiment. I think we can say that Hamas blew it. But the real joke will come when Israel goes in and takes all of Palestine and throws all non Israelis out. All your pro Palestinian countries will AGAIN turn their backs on the exiles and the Palestinians will AGAIN realize they are only loved when they are firing missiles and getting themselves shot at when they are on their "own" land. What a mess..........

Have a nice day.

ps. As for the Cole, KICK BUTT GUYS!!!!!

How much longer can this go on?
I would hope that the clock has almost run out on the whole independent Palestine experiment. I think we can say that Hamas blew it. But the real joke will come when Israel goes in and takes all of Palestine and throws all non Israelis out. All your pro Palestinian countries will AGAIN turn their backs on the exiles and the Palestinians will AGAIN realize they are only loved when they are firing missiles and getting themselves shot at when they are on their "own" land. What a mess..........

Have a nice day.

ps. As for the Cole, KICK BUTT GUYS!!!!!

Nathan and Capt. Not America:

Ok. Have it your way, but I'm pretty sure you won't be happy with the outcome, except unless you like ethnic cleansing and genocide...

BTW, what solutions do YOU have that havn't alredy been tried?

Riddle me that, bozos!

53_2 Capt not America. Wow, your funny....anyways....

Here is my solution. Get all the Americans out of the Middle East.

Do not allow anyone from the middle east into the US.

Sit back and watch them kill each other off like they have been doing since man figured out that getting hit by a flying rock hurts.

In reality, the people of the middle east will always be at war with each other as long as they allow dictators to rule them. So why waste US lives on lives that are already wasted................

Have a good day.

Smart capt:
"Get all the Americans out of the Middle East."

That's what the Arabs wanted since the get go!The last war ended because the US gave full support and weapons to Israel!To have an acceptable outcome!It would have been different.

I agree with that opinion,but ethically,it is immoral!all that black wealth would be directed towards attaining more bombs than Israel.Both equal the UN would be the "TRUE" judge!Not good for israel!

Everyone justifying Israel position...here is how the arabs view Israel:
An occupational force,a foreign population that"stole" land by force,for noone else to share"equally"!
They are willing to compromise some of the land for peace,but not what Israel wants to keep.They are willing to give them some of their "stolen"land!

Oh and Blackjack - no, personally I don't want all the land for Palestinians. It doesn't HAVE to be a zero-sum game.

Optimally, I would like to see one democratic, secular country where no people are discriminated against based on their ethnicity or religion. This country would guarantee open access to all religious sites for all religions and determine their political preferences through elections, not violence.

And that country would be Egypt? Syria? Jordan? Lebanon? Saudi Arabia? Iraq? nope that would be Iran right? Iran? no, it got to be some other country I think its Kuwait, no the U.AE , no Morocco? right? Morocco, nope wrong again, no I think Libya right nope wrong again let me think Bahrain, Algeria Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, Qatar, Oman, ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh you mean Israel oh stupid drugy me you meant Israel, yes you would love to take Israel and tear her apart and make her one big happy family like the rest of the middle east and I'm on crack? heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh wait I'm about to get of the floor from hysterics when was the last time you went to a psychiatrist you nut job.

Oh and Blackjack - no, personally I don't want all the land for Palestinians. It doesn't HAVE to be a zero-sum game.

Optimally, I would like to see one democratic, secular country where no people are discriminated against based on their ethnicity or religion. This country would guarantee open access to all religious sites for all religions and determine their political preferences through elections, not violence.

And that country would be Egypt? Syria? Jordan? Lebanon? Saudi Arabia? Iraq? nope that would be Iran right? Iran? no, it got to be some other country I think its Kuwait, no the U.AE , no Morocco? right? Morocco, nope wrong again, no I think Libya right nope wrong again let me think Bahrain, Algeria Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, Qatar, Oman, ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh you mean Israel oh stupid drugy me you meant Israel, yes you would love to take Israel and tear her apart and make her one big happy family like the rest of the middle east and I'm on crack? heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh wait I'm about to get of the floor from hysterics when was the last time you went to a psychiatrist you nut job.

. Muslims are involved in 25 of some 30 conflicts going on in the world: in Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Cyprus, East Timor, India, Indonesia (2 provinces), Kashmir, Kazakastan, Kosovo, Kurdistan, Macedonia, the Middle East, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Sudan, Russia-Chechnya, Tajikistan, Thailand, Uganda and Uzbekistan.

Doesn't this mean that extremist Islam is the norm and normal Islam is extremely rare?

On Nov. 29, 1947 the United Nations General Assembly voted to legitimize the sovereignty of the restored state of Israel.

If the 1.3 million Israeli Arabs are a model of peaceful coexistence, why are the 250,000 Jews living in Judea, Samaria, and the Golan Heights an obstacle to peace?

If the uprooting of Arab communities within the Green Line constitutes a blatant human rights violation, why is the uprooting of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria viewed as a contribution to peace?

There is not, nor has there ever been, a distinct "Palestinian" culture or language.

Further, there has never been a Palestinian state governed by Arab Palestinians in history. Nor was there ever a serious Arab-Palestinian national movement, until 1964, which was three years *before* the Arabs of "Palestine" lost the West Bank [Judea and Samaria] and Gaza as a result of attacking Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War (which the Arabs started).

Even the original so-called leader of the "Palestinian" people, Yasser Arafat, was Egyptian.

In short, the so-called Arab "Palestinians" are a manufactured people. They are a people with no history and no authenticity whose sole purpose for existence is to destroy the Jewish State.

It's ethnocentric to claim that only a certain ethnic group has rights to own land, as is the claim made by the Arabs. Why are Arabs the only ones entitled to self-determination?

Terror is not something one learns to live with. It is something which the Israel and US governments are obligated to completely destroy. No decent government should sit down and negotiate with murderers.

Israel has exercised restraint for many months now. This has been in spite of the constant firing of rockets and mortar shells on our towns and villages in southern Israel, every single hour, every single day. While Israel has been showing restraint, Hamas has showed no intention of ceasing its vicious attacks. Since Wednesday, more than 150 rockets were fired at Israel, dozens in the past 24 hours alone. More than a quarter of a million Israeli citizens are in the range of the deadly and murderous weapons of Hamas. The government of Israel should thus not apologize for protecting its citizens.

No responsible member state would sit back in silence and do nothing as its citizens and territory are under constant attack. The alarms in Sderot - and now Ashkelon - gave Israeli civilians less than 15 seconds before the rocket slams into their lives, their homes, hospitals, kindergartens, schools, and playgrounds. And their lives are destroyed forever.

Hamas not only seeks to kill Israelis; it has no concern for its own civilians. It fires rockets from populated civilian areas, using their civilians as human shields. This is a war crime against both Israelis and Palestinians. The Palestinians in Gaza are victims of Hamas' regime of terror. It is not only Israelis. We are all being held hostage by Hamas, the real and only occupier in Gaza through its terror.

There should be no doubt in our minds that Hamas' true vision is the extermination of the State of Israel, and not to live peacefully side by side with us. It does not even seek to restore normalcy for the sake of the people of Gaza. Hamas bears sole responsibility for the violence.

Sitting on the sidelines will only embolden the extremists and convince them that they should not stop their violence. Israel expects the international community to support us in our protection of our people.

The U.N. was silent when the Jordanians destroyed 58 synagogues in the old city of Jerusalem. It remained silent while Jordan systematically desecrated the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives, and it remained silent when Jordan enforced apartheid laws preventing Jews from accessing the Temple Mount and Western Wall (Kotel).

I have decided to ignore you Blackjack, since you don't bring anything to the table resembling rationale thought. You are just recycling old, tired, arguments. At least Jacob can write up a decent argument.

Jacob:

I concede the point that just because I cannot think of any use for the Cole doesn't mean it doesn't have one. It clearly has some purpose for being there, and you and I can only speculate on what that is. However, I am speculating, based on the past performance of George W., that the Cole is there to intimidate.

Also, you put way too much faith in the US state department's ability to influence foreign policy. You forget that this is the same department that could do nothing to stop the defense department's invasion of Iraq, and even Mr. Colin Powell himself presented exaggerated evidence to the UN security council in support of the idea.

Unfortunately, civil servants at the State Department are desperately in need of training on the Middle East. Not many of them have even been to the Middle East. It's been 15 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and only 7 years since 9/11. The State Department, and the entire intelligence community for that matter, has been calibrated for combating communism and has only just begun to retrain its workforce to shift attention to the Middle East. One of the 9/11 Commission's biggest criticisms was that the State Department, the CIA, the NSA, and the FBI did not possess the adequate skills to combat extremism in the Middle East, or even a basic understanding of the region's history. They hardly had any Arabic translators! Those few experts who tried to speak up were silenced because their views did not fit with the policy of the current administration. In fact, one prominent think tank in Washington warned that an invasion of Iraq risked upsetting the Sunni-Shia balance, causing a civil war. They were ignored, and look what happened.

If you wanted, you could boil everything down to just this: the State department employs some experts on the Middle East, but the State department can be, and is quite frequently, overruled by administrations that have their own opinions of the region. These opinions are not expert opinions derived from first hand experience, or even through academic studies. These opinions are those cultivated in a society that learned of the Middle East through the Bible (faith) and Hollywood (fantasy), and when the US has become involved in the Middle East, it has been mostly for the sake of power.

The one exception to this has been American Universities in the Middle East. They exist purely in the name of enlightenment and higher education, and come with no strings attached.

Oh, and Blackjack, I'll ignore the rest of your incredibly ignorant comments, but not this:

"Doesn't this mean that extremist Islam is the norm and normal Islam is extremely rare?"

You lose all credibility as soon as you try to blame Islam for the world's problems. Extremism exists in every culture and every religion, from the poor to the rich, from America to China, and from Judaism to Islam. There are over a billion Muslims in the world, and nearly all of them are peaceful, tolerant, law abiding citizens. Do not try to claim Islam is a religion of violence. That is intolerance and bigotry at its ugliest.

And Jacob:

"Israel has the ability to decide how much force to use, Israel has the ability to decide how much pressure its going to put on the Palestinians. And given the force available, it has come nowhere near its potential to inflict harm on the Palestinian population of Gaza."

This makes it sound like the Palestinians are merely subjects of Israel's omnipotent will, and they only exist because Israel continues to allow it. If that wasn't your point, then you must mean that Israel is being generous and is showing restraint by not attacking Gaza with full force. One is to give Israel absolute power over Palestinians, the other is to set the standard so low than even the most cruel actions seem benevolent. It's like claiming you were being magnanimous since you punched a man you were arguing with instead of stabbing him.

That's exactly what I'm saying Nathan. Given the dispartiy in power between the two combatants, Israel is indeed being generous in its response to the rockets coming in from Gaza.

For comparison, you can look at what Russia did to Chechnya. When they were done with it, the capital Grozny could be best used as a parking lot there were so few building standing.

We could look at how Syria treated the Muslim Brotherhood in Hama. Again, a parking lot.

Or perhaps we could view Algeria where a 10 year civil war wiped out over 100,000 people (possibly 200,000).

Africa provides several such examples. The genocide in Darfur. The now potential new genocide (according to the op-ed written by Nicolas Kristof this past week) in southern Sudan.

the 2,000 or so dead in Kenya over the past several months.

Or, even if we go to community action, you have the riots in Gujarat, India about six years ago where Hindu mobs killed over 2,000 Muslims in a span of 48 hours following the killing of 50 Hindu pilgrims on a train.

So yes, given the IDF's ability to wage war, the fact that Gaza is not a parking lot, that Israel more or less attempts to limit the damage it causes in combat, the fact that the rockets have been firing daily for almost three years after Israel pulled out of Gaza.

Then yes, I would have to say that Israel is holding back.

Nathan, you create a static model and decide to see only what you can fit into it.

First, the State dept. You create the idea that we never had coverage of the Arab and Muslim states prior to 9/11. We did. Second, the idea that its been only seven years, rings hollow. Think about it, in seven years, you could start college, get a four years bachalor’s degree in international studies, and a year or two experience, before joining the State dept. Let’s say 10 students at the top 100 universities (out of 3,000+ in the US) decided to go this route. You then get 1,000 potential experts every year for the past three years. Expand this to the top 250 universities, and you get 2,500 candidates per year. This of course ignores the reality that there were already students studying these disciplines. It also ignores the immediate pool of talent in the form of the professors who already teach the subject matter. It also ignores the talent pool of American citizens who have such a background of study, and have gone on to non-academic posts. Indeed, the federal government uses such experts all the time.

But then you turn your own argument on its head first by pointing out a supposed personnel deficiency due to a 15 year old focus (the cold war), then stating that the dept has no ability to influence foreign policy. So if it can’t do that, the fact that it was geared to the cold war shouldn’t matter.

My feeling is you confuse influence with expertise. Influence is in how you use it, and it appears that Colin Powell didn’t fight the push for war. That’s not due to his lack of expertise, either in war or understanding the middle-east. But its one thing to influence, it’s another thing to give an entirely bollacks’d up attempt to play Adlei Stevenson in the Security Council.

I’m sorry, but seven years is a substantial time to hire the correct talent for translation and gain an understanding of a region.

And again, you bounce back and forth over the idea that the intelligence services didn’t have the skills or expertise to meet the challenge of the region, then going on to state that those experts who did challenge the administration were ignored. Stating such a thing means that there were correct expert opinions available, back at the time these decisions were being made (about seven years ago).

The case to make is this. The United States is a democratic republic, and we, the people, put into office those leaders we think are the best (go figure) to steer the nation over a course of four years. All those alphabet soup agencies, are there to provide those leaders with understanding and expertise. But they are there to provide assistance to the elected leadership.

Finally, you should realize that there are always strings attached, and American Universities are included in that picture. Academia is certainly not free of the petty and political power games found in the rest of life.

"They hardly had any Arabic translators!"

When I interviewed,they told me the pay would be anywhere from $1500-$1900/month!That was in 02,I have not checked since then!

"I’m sorry, but seven years is a substantial time to hire the correct talent for translation and gain an understanding of a region. "
I agree with that statement,and on the other hand,I think that those in office still have the same views as you do about the history of the region.Here is a hint to solve all conflicts:
Give Palastenians their rights back,and the stolen land,till then we have no business in the M.E.,and don't think dectatorships are pro war,a democratically elected government in Egypt for example would have to declare war against Israel.

"the fact that the rockets have been firing daily for almost three years after Israel pulled out of Gaza."

The last NINE month,zero were killed by the rockets!And then it starts again,why?Stop being one sided man, they are both guilty,they both need to learn tolerance,but don't start with the weak side!Start with the more advanced side that claims to be a democracy,and ask for justice and tolerance,give them the land, support them till they have a solid system,and if they don't change,TAKE IT BACK!And don't force the US to fight their wars anymore.

Sherif.
"And don't force the US to fight their wars anymore."

Sherif, in regards to your comment and just so I know where you are coming from, could you please give a quick answer to these..It would help me understand you better

What about Americans that fight to free Kuwait from Saddam?

What about the American troops that were stationed on the Saudi Arabian border while Saddam moved his troops closer to it.?

What about the American troops that fight everyday to bring stability to Iraq while murders run around killing its citizens?

Sherif, do you condone suicide bombers as a method of bringing attention to their cause?

"What about Americans that fight to free Kuwait from Saddam?"And all that follows,It was the right thing to do for "humanity"!And we got rewarded for it!
Why are we in Iraq?Why did we leave Sumalia?Kosovo?Or better yet,south Sudan?Africa?

" to bring stability to Iraq while murders run around killing its citizens?"
What common sense is that?They were not doing that before we GOT there!

"do you condone suicide bombers as a method of bringing attention to their cause? "
Like Andrew pointed out before,the 1st suicide bomber was a Christian Lebanese lady.They have the right to resist,it should not be against citizens.

" to bring stability to Iraq while murders run around killing its citizens?"
What common sense is that?They were not doing that before we GOT there!

OH!! YOUR RIGHT. Its Americas fault. It is Americans that are making the insurgents blow up other Arabs.

"They have the right to resist,it should not be against citizens."

Yet it is, everyday.

Oh, and Blackjack, I'll ignore the rest of your incredibly ignorant comments, but not this:

Nat I don't blame you for trying to ignore the comments, ignore your hearts content you see you can only lieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee so much the truth will set you free haaaaaaaaaaaaa

"OH!! YOUR RIGHT. Its Americas fault. It is Americans that are making the insurgents blow up other Arabs."

Were they blowing other arabs before we got there?I did not bring it up,you did!And did not add anything,just reiterated yourself!

"Yet it is, everyday."
Stop it,go tell the democratic system in the area to quit killing (sorry:burning) MORE citizens!

Al-Arabiya TV director-general Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed has said that Syria sent Hamas to war with Israel in order to distract the public agenda from the Lebanon presidency crisis and to thwart the Arab League initiative for resolving the crisis.

He said that Israel's response to Hamas's provocation permits Syria to accuse the countries planning to miss the summit in Damascus at the end of the month of betraying the Palestinian cause.

Also, the London daily Al-Hayat quoted Arab sources as saying that Syria was exploiting the Gaza events to force its position on those who are seeking a postponement of the Arab summit in Damascus.

Source: Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, March 3, 2008; Al-Hayat, London, March 4, 2008

Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization spokesman Daoud Shihab has said that the countdown to Israel's disappearance has begun.

Lebanese researcher Anis Al-Naqash said in a lecture that talk of a new Middle East without Israel indicated a fact that will come true, and that the next victory will be soon and will include the destruction of the Israeli army.

Source: Al-Nahar, Lebanon, March 2, 2008

Yossi Klein Halevi: Israel's Withdrawal from Gaza a "Disaster"

I called the Ariel-Sharon orchestrated retreat from Gaza at the time it happened "one of the worst errors ever made by a democracy" but have generally refrained from refrains of "I told you so" in the 2½ years since. Yossi Klein Halevi's analysis in the Los Angeles Times today is too compelling to ignore, however, so some extracts and comments on it.

Yossi Klein Halevi reconsiders the Gaza withdrawal.

His basic argument, as reflected by the title, "The end of the ‘guilty Israeli': Empathy has become a victim of the Palestinian attacks from Gaza," is that the intifada of 1987-92 created "a substantial bloc of guilt-ridden Israelis ready to take almost any risk for peace." He calls these guilty Israelis "the most potent source of Palestinian empowerment" because they "tried to understand for the first time how Palestinians experienced the conflict, in effect borrowing Palestinian eyes and incorporating elements of the Palestinian narrative into [Israel's] own understanding of history." Even as Yasir Arafat proved himself to be "a fraud," Israelis persisted in their hope that concessions would win tranquility. And even after four years of violence, 2000-04, "Israelis still felt so desperate to end the occupation that they withdrew their army and uprooted their settlements from Gaza."

Halevi, a senior fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem, sees that withdrawal as the final, failed gamble:

Had Gazans begun at this point to create a peaceful state from their new, self-governing territory, the Israeli public almost certainly would have endorsed substantive negotiations over a West Bank withdrawal. Instead, they elected a government led by Hamas, whose theology calls for the destruction of Israel and war against Jews around the world, and whose terror attacks are small pre-enactments of its genocidal ambitions. Palestinian rocket attacks that had previously been aimed at settlements were simply redirected toward towns and villages within Israel. … Gaza was a test case for Israeli withdrawal, and the experiment was a disaster. How, Israelis wonder, can we evacuate the West Bank and risk rocket attacks on Tel Aviv and Jerusalem?

The "guilty Israeli" has been rendered extinct, replaced by an Israeli with an improved understanding of the Palestinian problem.

Just as we came to realize during the first intifada that the occupation was untenable, so we have now come to realize that peace is impossible with Palestinian leaders for whom reconciliation is a one-way process. … So long as Gaza refuses to heal itself, Israelis will rightly suspect that the Palestinian goal remains Israel's destruction. Not even a full withdrawal from the West Bank, they fear, will end the war, any more than the pullout from Gaza stopped the rockets. Israel's crime isn't occupying but existing.

Operationally, this means that Israelis are prepared to go back into Gaza and do whatever needs to be done.

Within the coming weeks, the Israeli army may re-invade the Gaza Strip in an attempt to stop the rocket attacks on Israeli towns and, perhaps, topple its Islamist Hamas government. … Even we Israelis who once wanted nothing more than to leave Gaza forever now realize that we may have no choice but to return, at least until relative quiet is restored to our border.

Comment: Halevi's implication is that the Gaza retreat has served as a grand object lesson for guilt-ridden Israelis, that it has woken them from a stupor at a real but not devastating cost. It's a silver-lining way to see what remains "one of the worst errors ever made by a democracy.

Jacob:

"I’m sorry, but seven years is a substantial time to hire the correct talent for translation and gain an understanding of a region."

Are you serious? First you have to engender interest in the region (that happened thanks to 9/11), then you have to hire people with experience or some training (exists in very limited quantity because the State Department focused more on the Soviet Union than the Middle East, and if you wanted to wait for new recruits then that's 4 years for a decent college degree, and THEN its another 4 years for a masters degree because undergraduate studies aren't thorough enough in this arena), and then you have to train those people (at least another year), then those people have to gain experience (at least 5 to 10 years), and then those people have to be promoted up the ranks to positions where their voices will be heard (15 to 20 years). Please explain how this is done in only seven years? The State Department, like any other large organization, cannot be gutted and retooled in such a short amount of time.

"You then get 1,000 potential experts every year for the past three years"

Do you work in an industry where experience and expert opinion are highly valued? You can't recruit people fresh out from college and expect them to fill these roles. It takes an entire career to become an expert. Seven years into it and you may have significantly improved the skills of your workforce, but by no means is it long enough to forge a coherent foreign policy grounded in sound, expert, and experienced opinion.

I'm sorry, but you don't seem to understand how long it takes to develop core skill sets.

"This of course ignores the reality that there were already students studying these disciplines. It also ignores the immediate pool of talent in the form of the professors who already teach the subject matter. It also ignores the talent pool of American citizens who have such a background of study, and have gone on to non-academic posts."

You are trivializing recruitment.

First off, there is a huge difference between industry and academia. Professors will offer their opinions as experts, but on and off consulting just doesn't replace an expert in house. Again, this was another big criticism of the State Department after 9/11. They relied to much on every-now-and-then opinions from "experts" outside the State Department that have vast amounts of knowledge but very little experience in policy.

Second, the state department doesn't pay very well. It's extremely hard to recruit from non-academic fields when the pay and benefits are so much better elsewhere. Furthermore, can you really call someone an expert if he isn't currently working in the field that he is supposed to be an expert on? It is true that large corporations pay experts to sit on their boards to offer their opinion on foreign strategies, but these companies can pay millions of dollars, something the state department simply cannot match.

Seriously, you can't wave a magic wand and expect fully trained experts with 10-20 years of experience to show up at your doorstep and want a job. Give me a break.

Nathan, I repeat, your argument rests on nothing more than stasis.

You believe that the only way to increase the skill set of entities like the State Dept, is for fresh blood to get educated, re-educated, groomed, and pickeled. 20 years may be fine to wait for an old Port wine or a good bottle of scotch to mature, but human experience and reality does not wait that long.

Your argument falls apart with the idea that ONLY direct experience will provide the necessary skill set for these diplomats and intelligence agents/analysts.

It ignores the reality that such skills and experience can and does get picked up in other positions at other jobs, and with other backgrounds.

Your theory is nothing more than a 'ideas only born here' company policy. It's an inbred model.

That you claim that the people providing the background foundational education are themselves unfit for service is another hole in your argument. If they cannot provide good insight then why the hell should they be teaching the next generation of diplomants/agents/analysts.

I'm sorry, but when someone like Felix Rhoytan can step in as a serious ambassador to France because he was both a lead investment banker and Francophile, shows the weakness of your argument.

We are a nation of 300 million people, with a rich set of personal experiences, a top-tier university system, and corporations and other entities that have world class levels of talent.

It makes little sense to say that its impossible for the federal government to tap into this group of people without waiting a generation.

Life isn't a theory Nathan. It's happening right now.

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