Secretary Mattis,
here’s a roadmap to peace in the Middle East
BY
SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY.), OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 07/27/18 01:15 PM EDT
THE
VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL
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If you had five minutes to speak before
the secretary of Defense, what would you say?
At this point, I’m sure, if
Gen. James Mattis is reading this, he is probably muttering to
himself: “Here we go again.”
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You see, every time I run into the
secretary of Defense, I try my best to make the point that we’ve been at war
too long in too many places.
Gen. Mattis, as well as the head
of NATO, the head of the UN, and virtually every voice of reason in
the foreign policy world, acknowledges that there is no military solution to
the unending Afghan War.
For that matter, most agree that there is
no military solution to the Syriancivil war or the Yemeni civil
war. And yet . . . the same voices that admit there is no military solution
keep sending more troops.
The Vietnam War strategy of taking one
more village to get a better diplomatic deal still rules among many
decision-makers.
I, for one, will keep pushing for a
declaration of victory and a grand celebration as our troops come home.
For diplomacy to ever work in the Middle
East, though, we need to discover what ideas prevent us from finding peace.
First —Islam must police Islam and
eliminate terrorists. Only Islam can ultimately eradicate radicals who promote
violence against civilians.
Every time a terrorist is killed by
an American, 10 more terrorists are inspired. Islam must police
Islam. Only when the people who live in the Middle East rise up and say “no
more” will the violence be controlled.
Second —there is no military solution to
the wars in Syria and Afghanistan. Nor is there a military solution
to our conflict with Iran.
Peace in the Middle East will have to
involve diplomacy.
Peace in Syria will have to
involve talks at the very least between Russia and the U.S. This is
why the multitude in Congress who criticized President Trump’s
meeting with President Putin are an obstacle to peace in Syria. In
all likelihood, peace is also dependent on considering the desires and concerns
of the Turks, the Israelis, Bashar al-Assad, the Kurds and
the Iraqis. Also, any Peace Plan will have to acknowledge the status
quo on the ground.
A diplomatic peace with Iran is
also possible but will have to acknowledge that the Iran Nuclear
Agreement, while not perfect, was indeed a step forward - that it will be
infinitely harder to negotiate a bilateral agreement with Iran on
nuclear AND ballistic missiles.
To find a diplomatic peace
with Iran, negotiators will have to acknowledge upfront
that Iran will never negotiate away her ballistic missiles unless the
agreement is multilateral and includes equal concessions from SaudiArabia,
the Gulf Sheikdoms, and Israel. Asking Iran to unilaterally
disarm is a non-starter.
Any diplomatic peace in Afghanistan is
possible but must acknowledge the status quo on the ground, the historic
Afghan aversion to centralized power in Kabul, and the futility of continuing
to spend $50 billion a year in Afghanistan, and it will only occur when
the U.S. directly negotiates with the Taliban.
So there, in five minutes I believe I’ve
called for ending three wars and given the roadmap to peace in the Middle East.
We all know peace in the Middle East is
likely not that easy, but I think many of us also know that continuing to try
the same policies year after year and expecting a different outcome is foolish.
My hope is that this administration, that
has shown signs of a willingness to challenge conventional thinking, will have
the courage to accept a peace that could happen when the United
States relinquishes the idea that we must be the world’s policeman.
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/399187-secretary-mattis-heres-a-roadmap-to-peace-in-the-middle
#قیام_دیماه#اعتصاب #تظاهرات_سراسری #قیام سراسری #اتحاد #آزادی#ما براندازیم #آ#ايران
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