----- Original Message ----- From: "Bradford DeLong" <jbdelong at uclink.berkeley.edu>
> Similarly, today...
>
> (1) Al Qaeda and the Taliban are malignant fucks, and there is no
> doubt that their fangs need to be pulled and that they need to be
> removed--even at substantial cost to innocents who just stand in the
> way...
>
> (2) But Al Qaeda and the Taliban are now a problem in large part
> because of mistaken and misguided U.S. policies in the past, and
> because of the failures of modernization--democratization,
> industrialization, and secularization--in the Middle East.
============
On an only slightly different note....
Americans see religion as gaining clout in public life Suddenly, a big majority of the public sees religion as a more influential player, a new poll finds.
"The poll also explored reactions to the view espoused by prominent conservatives that the terrorist attacks were a sign that God no longer protects the US. A resounding 73 percent dismissed the idea, with evangelicals only slightly behind at 63 percent."
< http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1207/p3s1-ussc.htm >
Maybe we need to look at democracy and secularization failures in the US too...........
Ian
>
> (3) More important, even, than drawing Al-Qaeda's fangs (and getting
> a better government than the Taliban for Afghanistan, even
> acknowledging the Hobbesian point that any government is better than
> no government) is winning the peace: putting the Middle East on a
> track so that more Al-Qaeda's won't be hatched in the future and
that
> the processes we think of as modernization--democratization,
> industrialization, and secularization--will roll forward
successfully.
>
> If you are too simpleminded to hold and agree with those three
> propositions, I don't think you have any business trying to do
> politics today--and I would apply this especially to George W. "I
> don't do nation-building" Bush.
>
>
>
> Brad DeLong
>