dragging out the scapegoats

[Terrance]

Murthy Yenamandra wrote:
> 
> This is a link to the home page of the journal, but the specific article
> Terrance refers to is (I believe):
> 
>     http://www.biu.ac.il/SOC/besa/meria/journal/1999/issue1/jv3n1a5.html

Yes, thank you very much. 

> 
> Whether it is a fair and balanced assessment is something everyone needs
> to make up their own mind on, but I wouldn't characterize it as saying
> that they are problems attributable solely to the clinton administration
> (or that the clinton foreign policy was significantly worse than what
> came before). 

I wouldn't either. 

I think people overestimate the foreign policy changes
> between US administrations - there might be in rhetoric, but in practice
> the differences are minimal. 

I disagree. The diffences, in ME policy specifically,  between the
Bushes and the Clinton Administration are huge. 

The obvious difference is the fact of the Gulf War during Bush I and the
commencing "Gulf War II" under Bush II. Clinton, in eight years, didn't
have a gulf war. But one should not assume, as so many liberals do, 
that the Bush men are  Hawkish oil leaders while Clinton tried to win
Jimmy Carter smiles form the Doves. The world is an extraordinarily
complex place and the ME is perhaps the most volatile region on the
globe. The policies Presidents put in place, be they war or peace, will
have more to do with the ME than with their hawkish or dove-like
dispositions.  



I think it's also unfair to say that the
> left points at only Bush I and II and not at Clinton - not unless your
> definition of the left counts only the DLC.


Well, Clintons not much of a Lefty to start. So of course he doesn't get
all 
stars and smiley face stamps on his homework and abroad work not to
mention his broad work. When you read that article, and I think it's a
good summary, it's shocking to realize just how a little girl from
California changed foreign policy. 

My criticism of Clinton is more about missed opportunities, maybe I
expected too much.