Word: logical
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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This is by design. From early on, the diplomacy of the Bush Administration has been guided by a straightforward logic: engagement is a reward, misbehavior ought not be rewarded; ergo, misbehaving parties are not to be engaged. The thinking is that isolation, ostracism and, if need be, sanctions are more likely to get troublesome actors to change their ways. And so the list of diplomatic outcasts only grows. Today the U.S. does not talk to Iran, Syria, Hamas, the elected Palestinian government or Hizballah. And as the violence in the region clearly shows, that has hardly been cause for moderation...
While Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki pursues the logic of security plans and national reconciliation, a different and deadly logic prevails on the streets of Baghdad. A rapid back-and-forth of Sunni-Shi'ite violence this weekend was an unusually vivid illustration of the cycle of sectarian massacre and counter-massacre that has accelerated in Iraq since the bombing of a Shi'ite shrine in February...
...ultimate success or failure of Bush's effort at transforming American grand strategy will be judged by history. Top officials believe that no matter who wins the 2008 election, the logic of the situation will compel him (or her) to follow the broad lines of Bush's approach. As Vice President Dick Cheney has said, "Ten years from now, we'll look back on this period of time and see that liberating 50 million people in Afghanistan and Iraq really did represent a major, fundamental shift, obviously, in U.S. policy in terms of how we dealt with the emerging terrorist...
...logic for those continued attacks is to be found in the so-called phase plan adopted in 1974 by the Palestine National Council in Cairo. Realizing that they would never be able to destroy Israel in one fell swoop, the Palestinians adopted a graduated plan to wipe out Israel. First, accept any territory given to them in any part of historic Palestine. Then, use that sanctuary to wage war until Israel is destroyed...
Regardless of the challenges, the Administration needs to continue to support the State Department's aggressive efforts to make sure that the small fish at Guantánamo move on. The logic that gave rise to the Administration's broad powers of detention, interrogation and surveillance is the logic of the worst-case scenario, of terrorist masterminds and ticking time bombs. It's consistent with that logic that a place like Guantánamo be reserved for only the most dangerous terrorists...