I received an email yesterday from my book agent. One of her clients is Connie Rice, not Condi, but Connie. Connie is Conoleeza's cousin, but the connection ends there. She may be family but she's Condeleeza's polar opposite in political beliefs and actions. Anyway, Connie has been been working on the legal side of voter registration and fighting disenfranchisement in both south Florida and Ohio, and apparently she's shocked by what she's facing in those two battleground states.
Robert Kennedy Jr. has written articles on the disenfranchisement of voters. And I know, as I write this, that the GOP is doing everything they can to disqualify Hispanic and African Americans from voting in this election. I was an election monitor in Miami-Dade in '04, and even then, with Miami-Dade, already notorious as a hot-spot for voter disenfranchisement (especially in the election of 2000), the hand of the GOP was palpable. I saw polling stations not opening up on time, or at all. Directions for alternate sites were vague or non-existent, leaving people confused. Many black voters had received calls that has misinformed them as to polling and voting rules.
So as we face this contentious election, election monitors who know the rules, who help voters find their polling stations, and help them understand the rules of voting, is everything. Without an accurate or fair vote count, everything we've worked for for the past two years will mean nothing. Like I mentioned, we don't have impartial, international election monitors to help us keep our voters from being violated-- it's up to us. We could lose it with this; we have before. So for those of you who can-- vote absentee. In some states there is NO EXCUSE ABSENTEE VOTING or EARLY VOTING for students.
Then volunteer for election protection at:
http://www.nationalcampaignforfairelections.org/page/s/vol08ep
We can't afford to lose a single vote!
Were we, instead, a power to be reckoned with, as we once were, we and our democratic allies, the UK and the EU, would have been able to bring the weight of a strong and impactful coalition to oppose Putin. If Americans could wake in the morning, and it was Al Gore who was just finishing the last few months of his term as President, Saddam Huessin would be a distant concern. Intelligence would've had time to discover the obvious, that Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11, and had no WMP's. And there would be no war in Iraq, and the Taliban would not be an issue. And maybe even the tribesmen in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan, from lack of Al Qaeda support, would be joining their Afghani brothers in finally expelling Osama bin Laden and his remaining lieutenants.
Conjecture at this point, certainly, but with additional forces in Afghanistan, that whole region would have been more stable, allowing the U.S. along with a strengthened, and very real international coalition to deal with the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, and who knows--- maybe even Mr. Putin himself.
George W. Bush and his cronies not only damaged our credibility, but also severely weakened the international voice and power of democracy in the world, so much so that Putin, Mugabe, al-Bashir, the generals in Burma, and yes, Ahmadinejad, act with arrogant abandon.
President Bush is right, history will tell. But George Bush, after November, won't be listening. While the rest of the world, the U.S. and it's allies, and democracy itself, will be reeling from the decline of a vital superpower, George and Laura will likely be spending their days on their Crawford ranch, safe and oblivious in their bubble.
]]>The world is political and we must be political. That’s a given, like it or not. And like it or not, we must be strong economically and militarily, so we can once again take our place as a credible and effective power in a world coalition of the new millennium. And that power, like it or not, cannot come in the form of hope, or militarism born from the humiliation of wars lost, or from business savvy, but in the form of a leader whose ideas and strategies comes from a deep understanding of how to coordinate the world’s resources and its collective might—not just for the benefit of our country, but for the benefit of the world.
It is a rare opportunity when voters can elect a President who is so perfectly suited to confront the unique challenges facing our nation. That candidate is Senator Hillary Clinton.
]]>Although I appreciate Senator John Edwards’ candor, and his very accurate perspective that corporate interests are at the core of many of our domestic problems, his strategy to “defeat big business” is idealistic and not enough to build a platform around. If elected, Senator Edwards would discover the same impenetrable wall that the Clintons slammed into while trying to bring in a universal health care plan in 1993.
That leaves Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton. Senator Clinton with her ostensibly vested interests in “big business” is not a conflict, but an inspired strategy of reforming corporate interests from within. Senator Clinton knows how to work this unwieldy and superannuated network of government agencies and corporate America. She learned the hard way, but learn she did. As eloquent as Senator Obama is, as gifted as he is, this is not his time. It would take years for him to become as knowledgeable and effective as Senator Clinton in reforming these broken systems.
However, I ardently believe that Senator Obama will be president one day, perhaps in 2016. By then, if all goes as it should, the United States would have had its first woman president in office, our country would had regained a good part, if not all, of its credibility and identity as a sane and legitimate world leader, and a voice of democracy. And America, red and blue states included, would hopefully have moved past any rhetoric of gender and/or race.
Both nationally and internationally, there is a desperate need for the kind of leadership that only Senator Clinton can accomplish. Senator Hillary Clinton’s time is now, but is it too much to hope for a Clinton/Obama ticket for 2008?
I can dream...
]]>The U.S., in years past, had always played a key role at this annual gathering of global business, political, and intellectual leaders, spearheading discussions on matters impacting the future of the world. But not a single Bush representative attended this year.
I hardly know what our president’s intent was by not participating. Maybe he and his advisors thought that our absence would be crippling, or disruptive, or, at least conspicuous, but from all accounts the Forum carried on in grand form, shaping a vision for the world without official U.S. input. In short, we weren’t missed.
Having just returned from Georgia (a post-Soviet republic) on a research trip for my next book, I noted that unlike most of the world that is eye-rolling at Bush’s latest antics, the people of Georgia are doing their best to give our president and his administration every chance to redeem themselves. Like the Ukraine and the Baltics, Georgia is struggling to sustain its fragile democracy. As far as most Georgians are concerned, without U.S. support, they would be unable to keep Vladimir Putin, the formidable leader of Russia, off their border.
And they’re probably correct
Our position and prominence in the world has helped many countries in the past. And in arguing with my very intelligent Georgian friend who hesitates to utter an unkind word about George Bush and his destructive policies, I remind her that I’m hoping as much as she that America and its ideals prevail. But with this administration Americans have been outsmarted, outmaneuvered, and worse, we’re being bled of the very power that my friend and her fellow Georgians count on to fend off Russia.
As demonstrated by our absence in Davos, the world is moving forward, but the cowboy mentality that still exists in this country is not unlike the very myopic mindset of the Islamic extremists. And in the end, backward is backward.
If, as Americans, we continue to enable a blind, archaic vision that we can change the world and its politics, unilaterally, then we will lose something even more precious than the lives of our young soldiers… we will lose our voice. Without that we are no help to ourselves, our allies, or Iraq— and most assuredly the Georgians. And the world will move on ahead without us.
]]>Ironically, and sadly, the Senator countered with two examples that actually contradicted his very arguments. First, after re-emphasizing the "consequences of failure" in Iraq, he drew a parallel with the bungled war in Vietnam. "I understand how democracies work, I saw it in Vietnam...and I saw in Vietnam the predictions that everything would be a worker's paradise in Vietnam, if we left. And thousands were executed and millions went to re-education camps...."
Senator McCain, please tell me that you weren't implying that we were wrong to pull out of Vietnam?
Then after Russert pointed out that this conflict in Iraq had been going for four years, with no end in sight, McCain used our own country as another example of the possible need for a protracted war. He stated that, "It took us about a hundred and some years before we had a bloody civil war to decide the future of our country."
Yes, Senator McCain, it took us some over "four score and seven years" to decide the future of our country. And by the way, you are also correct, it took a civil war to finally resolve the conflicts that divided our nation. Could it be that it will take a civil war to end the strife not only in Iraq, not only between the Sunnis and Shiites, but also in the whole of Middle East, as well? Can you imagine if any foreign governments had come into our country, occupied any of our states, or tried to dictate to the heads of either the South or the North? My father's family is from the South, and I can tell you unequivocally, that without a full Union victory, the South would still be fighting.
No, Senator McCain, a civil war, even a full-fledged war in the region may be as necessary for the Middle East as it was for America. It is my belief that we must leave Iraq, stop consummating al Qaeda's strategy to trap us in a war that will surely bleed us of treasures and lives, and let the Iraqis and their Middle Eastern neighbors be put on notice that they can no longer equivocate this conflict. Faced with the inevitable chaos and the very threat to their own leaderships, Arab governments might finally be willing to address the needs of their populations, change their own oppressive tactics, and actually join a true world coalition, which, in my opinion, is the only option that will lead to a real, and lasting peace.
]]>In June, my oldest daughter, Bryce, married her
long-time sweetheart of five years, Seth Gabel, at our home.
After the wedding, literally the next day, with honeymooners
voluntarily in tow, we joined 31 family members for a 10 day family
vacation to Turkey and Greece.
This summer I also had a chance to visit Ali, my dear friend from
Pakistan, and his very extended family in Brussels and
Holland. After an easy hour and a half train ride from Paris, I met Ali
in Brussels where I was graciously greeted into the home of Ali's
cousin, her husband, Answar, an Iman, and their lovely children.
Later, we walked through the streets of their neighborhood and enjoyed
a virtual feast of seafood and meats in a local Egyptian restaurant.
That afternoon, Answar, a gentle teacher of the Koran, drove Ali and
myself for over three hours to Den Haag, Holland to visit more of Ali's
clan.
In the home of Ali's nephew, with children and relatives filling the
comfortable space (most of the family lives within walking distance of
one another) I was served (feeling very spoiled) with a delicious array
of homemade dishes. After dinner, we piled back into the car Answar
rented and toured Den Haag until almost midnight. After talking into
the early hours of the morning, I was graciously given the only
bedroom, while Ali, his brother (his wife and child were visiting
relatives in Pakistan), and Answar slept in the living area.
Morning came quickly, a sweet breakfast, then back into the car to
Brussels where I got back onto the train to Paris, but not before
visiting Answar's mosque and neighborhood madrassa (school of Islam)
where Answar read Arabic, teaching tolerance and the teachings of Allah
from the Koran to all ages for free, five days a week.
It was a fascinating visit with Ali and his family and as always, my
questions of Islam, their clan, and their customs, were answered fully
and respectfully. And as typical with a guest in a Muslim home,
I felt quite indulged.
As for my next book, I'm hoping to visit the Caucasus next year.
After some extensive research, I would probably go through a two-week
anti-terror training course with an instructor from Special Forces, then fly to
Russia. My next book will hopefully explore Russia, Georgia, and Chechnya, with the
dynamics of that region, their peoples, their politics, and their beliefs... should be interesting."
Familiar with the very cultural, if not, indigenous sectarian violence that has plagued the Muslim community for over fourteen centuries, it didn’t take a crystal ball to predict that Iraq, without a serious post- Saddam plan of a sustained infrastructure, along with the collaboration of Sunni and Shia leaders, could ever yield an effective government body, much less a full-fledged democracy.
Sadly, I believe that civil war in Iraq is inevitable, and that it is vital that a timetable for a U.S. pullout happen sooner than later. It would not only signal the Muslim community, but also the world, that the U.S., although culpable in its initial course of action, can no longer serve as a scapegoat, or an excuse to “stand on the sidelines.”
Ironically, even with President Bush’s thick-fistedness and narrow vision that began in March of 2003, the calamity that, in my opinion, will ensue, with or without our withdrawal, may finally motivate the Middle East and the rest of the world to focus on an ancient feud that must be addressed.