Foreign POlicy News and Commentary Update November 15, 2007

SEND THE STATE DEPARTMENT TO WAR - MAX BOOT (NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 14): http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/14/opinion/14boot.html?_r=1&n=Top/Opinion/Editorials%20and%20Op-Ed/Op-Ed/Contributors&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

THE SCHOOL OF BAD IDEAS: "SEND THE STATE DEPT. TO WAR" ? (AVUNCULAR AMERICAN AN EXPATRIATE VIEW FROM EUROPE BY GERALD LOFTUS): http://avuncularamerican.typepad.com/blog/2007/11/the-school-of-b.html

U.S. ENLISTS ARAB BLOGGERS FOR INFO WAR (UPDATED) (MOUNTAINRUNNER NOVEMBER 15): http://mountainrunner.us/2007/11/us_enlists_arab_bloggers_for_i.html

U.S. PONDERS WAR MESSAGE, AND HOW BEST TO DELIVER IT - THOM SHANKER (NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 16):
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/15/washington/15military.html?pagewanted=print

RESILIENCE AND AMERICAN SECURITY - ADAM ELKUS (HUFFINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 13): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-elkus/resilience-and-american-s_b_72502.html

WHAT TO DO IN PAKISTAN? - SETH WEINBERGER (SECURITY DILEMNAS, NOVEMBER 12): http://securitydilemmas.blogspot.com/2007/11/what-to-do-in-pakistan.html
SEE ALSO
http://chronicle.com/blogs/footnoted/index.php?id=999
http://usforeignpolicy.about.com/b/2007/11/13/what-should-the-united-states-do-about-pakistan.htm

US REMAINS TOP DESTINATION FOR FOREIGN STUDENTS MICHAEL BOWMAN (VOA, NOVEMBER 13)
http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-11-13-voa61.cfm

AMERICAN STUDENTS SEEK TRUE VIEW OF MIDDLE EAST - REUTERS (NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 15): .
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/lifestyle-egypt-usa-students.html?pagewanted=print

EDITOR OF ARAB REFORMIST WEBSITE: 'DISTORTION OF THE IMAGE OF THE UNITED STATES HAS BECOME A POLITICAL OBJECTIVE FOR ARAB GOVERNMENTS' (HYSCIENCE, NOVEMBER 14): MEMRI has a piece today on an editorial in an Arabic reformist website in which editor Omran Salman explains the failure of American public diplomacy efforts and blames the dictatorial Arab regimes of being behind the campaigns to smear America as part of their struggle for survival. In the editorial, Salman says that the distortion of the image of the U.S. has become a political objective for Arab governments in their struggle for survival, and a tool to banish the specter of democracy and change in the Arab region.
http://www.hyscience.com/archives/2007/11/editor_of_arab.php

OBAMA IN ORBIT - ROGER COHEN (NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 15): The global community is ever more linked. American exceptionalism, as practiced by Bush, has created a longing for new American engagement.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/15/opinion/15cohen.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

AMERICA'S PARTNERS - HELLE DALE (WASHINGTON TIMES, NOVEMBER 14): It remains the case that the United States is the only country able and willing to enforce the international order by military force -- to be the world's policeman, if you will. We cannot do it without international partners, though.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071114/EDITORIAL06/111140011/1013&template=printart

DIPLOMATS WON'T BE FORCED TO GO TO IRAQ, FOR NOW: THE STATE DEPARTMENT SAYS IT HOPES TO FILL FOREIGN SERVICE POSTS WITH VOLUNTEERS RATHER THAN COMPELLING EMPLOYEES TO ACCEPT THEM - PAUL RICHTER (LOS ANGELES TIMES, NOVEMBER 14): Iraq.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/complete/la-na-diplo14nov14,1,631567.story

IRAQ CRISIS? UNTOLD TALES OF REFUGEES - HAROON SIDDIQUI (TORONTO STAR, NOVEMBER 15/COMMON DREAMS)
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/11/15/5242/

THOUSANDS OF IRAQIS APPLY TO LIVE IN US - ASSOCIATED PRESS (NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 14)
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Syria-Iraqi-Refugees.html?pagewanted=print

IRAQIS WASTING AN OPPORTUNITY, U.S. OFFICERS SAY: WITH ATTACKS EBBING, GOVERNMENT IS URGED TO REACH OUT TO OPPONENTS - THOMAS E. RICKS (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 15)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/14/AR2007111402524_pf.html

VICTORY IN IRAQ - TONY BLANKLEY (WASHINGTON TIMES, NOVEMBER 14): The surge, though a brilliant military operation, was never just a military operation. Rather it developed a political, economic and communications infrastructure that is permitting local-level reconciliation. We are creating representative governance from the bottom up -- not from the Green Zone down.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071114/EDITORIAL01/111140010/1013/EDITORIAL&template=printart

HE ISLAMIST TIDE IN IRAQ: HAVE IRAQ'S SUNNIS TURNED DECISIVELY AWAY FROM ISLAMISM? WILL THE SHIITES FOLLOW THE SAME PATH IN TIME? DAVID RIVKIN AND BRIAN KATULIS CONTINUE THEIR DEBATE ON THE EVOLVING SITUATION IN IRAQ (LOS ANGELES TIMES, NOVEMBER 14)
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-dustup14nov14,0,895767.story?coll=la-opinion-center

SOME COMMON SENSE AT CENTCOM ? PATRICIA KUSHLIS (WHIRLED VIEW, NOVEMBER 14): "I have heard no one in the US foreign policy community -- except Dick Cheney and his keystone cops drum-and-bugle corps of off-the-political-charts loonies -- advocate playing the military card against the Iranians."
http://whirledview.typepad.com/whirledview/2007/11/some-common-sen.html

WHO CAN MATCH ISRAEL'S LOBBY? VIVIAN SALAMA (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 15): It is hard to imagine that any group will surpass the Israel lobby's ability to win hearts and minds in Washington.
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/vivian_salama/2007/11/other_countries_cant_match_isr.html

IN MUSHARAFF, BUSH MADE THE WRONG FRIEND: THE U.S. ALLIANCE WITH PAKISTAN HAS ONLY STRENGTHENED DANGEROUS EXTREMISTS - ROSA BROOKS (LOS ANGELES TIMES, NOVEMBER 15)
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-brooks15nov15,0,7992029.column?coll=la-opinion-center

DIGGING A HOLE - EDITORIAL (NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 14): The United States, which has provided Pakistan with more than $10 billion since Sept. 11, 2001, should condition some of that assistance on Islamabad?s performance in fighting extremists and reconsider aid not directly linked to counterterrorism, like support for the F-16s that Washington let Pakistan buy. It should also shift money toward political parties, schools and courts to help the Pakistani people build a democracy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/14/opinion/14wed2.html?n=Top/Opinion/Editorials%20and%20Op-Ed/Editorials&_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

MUSHARRAF'S OPPOSITION ? EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON TIMES, NOVEMBER 15): In truth, no one knows what would happen if Gen. Musharraf were deposed. So, there is justified anxiety on this subject in Washington. Indeed, these are longstanding fears; the present crackdown only exacerbates them.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071115/EDITORIAL/111150013/1013&template=printart

BUSH STANDS BY HIS DICTATOR - ROBERT SCHEER (TRUTHDIG, NOVEMBER 13): "The war on terror" made me do it. That's the excuse that works for George W. Bush to rationalize his assaults on the rule of law, from arbitrary arrest to torture. So why not try some war-on-terror obfuscation to bail out his president-dictator buddy over in Pakistan? That's the card Bush played at his Saturday press conference when he once again celebrated Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf as a strong ally in the war on terrorism.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20071113_bush_stands_by_his_dictator/

DOING THE SARKOZY REVIEW & OUTLOOK (WALL STREET JOURNAL, NOVEMBER 15): One can marvel at the sight, unimaginable this time last year, of a new generation of European leaders clamoring to make friends with America.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119499172067791799.html?mod=todays_us_opinion
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

DON'T TURN ON ETHIOPIA - VICKI HUDDLESTON AND TIBOR NAGY (NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 15): Ethiopia is a nation where 77 million Orthodox Christians and Muslims live in peace, engaged in building a democracy while besieged from within and without by enemies of democracy. Congress should use creative diplomacy to deal with the combined threat of insurgency and war.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/15/opinion/15huddleston.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

A BAD NAME AND A WORSE IDEA - HARLAN ULLMAN (WASHINGTON TIMES, NOVEMBER 14): As he has stuck by the term GWOT, the president probably will not abandon use of Islamo-fascism in characterizing the enemy. After all, he is a man famous for staying the course. However, if this nation is really serious in obtaining successful outcomes in Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran and against the truly radicalized and dangerous elements of Islam, we must realize that names and ideas count. This one is both a bad name and a worse idea.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071114/EDITORIAL09/111140012/1013&template=printart