Maszka on Thomas Friedman’s “Drilling in Afghanistan”

Friedman in his usual insightful manner began it by saying:

“Before Democrats adopt “More Troops to Afghanistan” as their bumper sticker, they need to make sure it’s a strategy for winning a war — not an election.”

The main caution I would offer to Thomas Friedman’s suggestion that “islands of democracy” would be beneficial, is the danger of a policy of nation-building and the quagmire it can create (Iraq and Afghanistan serve as excellent examples). Thomas Friedman’s discussion of the situation concerning America’s worn-out welcome in Afghanistan is basically a mirror image of Pakistan (without nukes). As much as various entities exploit nihilism as a source of public support for terrorism, I honestly believe that those same entities are even more successful in generating support by exploiting the sense that they have somehow been egregiously wronged by the United States. Unfortunately, we have been losing the the war on terror at the most crucial front of all, the popular opinion front. As long as we continue to allow those who would foster terrorism to be more influential and media savvy than we are, we will continue to lose. I honestly believe that we need to change many facets of our foreign policy toward the Muslim and Arab states. But that being said, the bottom line in this war is not truth, but the perception of truth. And the international perception of the United States has become very unpopular over the last decade.”