gandalf: I would agree that our post-9/11 strategy leaves a lot to be desired. In truth, though, our “pre” 9/11 strategy (the 50 years prior) weren’t so hot, either.
I would ascribe our foreign policy failures to two things: The “balance of power”/USSR containment strategy, and our support of colonial powers like France and Great Britain, and the post-colonial nightmares they spawned. All of the seeds of our present distress were sown in those times, and as a result of those strategies and policies.
You need look no further than a picture of FDR with ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia near the close of WWII to see what direction things were heading in. Or our support of de Gaulle (because we wanted France in NATO) and his little Indochinese adventure.
George Washington was right on the money regarding foreign entanglements. Problem is, how do we get the oil, raw and finished goods, etc to our shores without them?
