Teddy Roosevelt's Advice to America about Pakistan and the Taliban

Teddy Roosevelt was an American president who strove every day to be fair with everyone. He held this virtue to be the mark of a good person.

One of Teddy Roosevelt’s favorite pieces of advice, and one which every American school child learns, is originally from West Africa :

“Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.”

I thought of Roosevelt’s Speak Softly phrase this morning when I was watching most Americans, including politicians and high government officials, angrily denounce Pakistan for its seeming treachery toward America vis-à-vis the presence of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

At the same time, these same Americans were waxing poetic about the possibility of getting out of Afghanistan, either by simply accelerating the withdrawal of the American military, or by cutting a political deal with the Afghanistan Taliban now that bin Laden is no longer a stumbling block to the process.

I think Teddy Roosevelt might have had a different idea.

Speak Softly. We all know that somebody in Pakistan was protecting bin Laden. Why beat a dead horse. Let’s instead focus on what we want from Pakistan. The Pakistani government and military are probably the most important key America possesses if she is serious about negotiating with the Taliban.  So why make fools of them in public? Why not speak softly, and let them know about the Big Stick lurking down the road.

Carry a Big Stick. America has now proven, if there ever was any doubt, that its commando strike capability is unique. It can strike anywhere in Afghanistan, or Pakistan for that matter, killing or capturing Taliban leader Mohammed Omar for example, or taking out Taliban leaders being sheltered in Pakistan, or the Pakistanis sheltering them.

That’s America’s double key to a successful negotiation and partial withdrawal. We can leave Pakistan with a safe relationship with the Taliban, her atomic capabilities intact and shielded from her fears, unfounded to be sure, of India. We can also negotiate with the Taliban, but the longer they hold out, the more likely it is that their leaders will find themselves in US custody or at the bottom of the Arabian Sea.

All that is required is cooperation - and the realization that America will be watching if Pakistan meddles too much in Afghan affairs or if the Taliban, once incorporated into Afghan political life, starts to show signs of a return to its old, despicable ways. The Big Stick will be close by in either case.

Osama bin Laden's Death, Money and Muslim-Christian Brotherhood

The dust is settling on the US commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden. There is the question of whether to release the photos of the raid and Osama’s burial at sea, but this is a detail.

As the news of the action spread around the world, everyone’s attention turned instinctively to the future of terrorism. Many think it will continue and some believe that Al-Qaida will remain a strong terrorist threat.

I’m not so sure.

There are many reasons why Al-Qaida will experience organizational problems. There are factions inside Al-Qaida, and the new Number 2 is not accepted by everyone, often because he’s not really “Arab,” i.e., he’s not a Gulf Arab, and Gulf Arabs in Al-Qaida , like Osama, feel superior. And, on the other side, there are the Taliban and their supporters in the south Asia tier who feel culturally older and different than any of the Arabs, and who were Buddhist before being “converted” to Islam in the 8-10^th centuries by invaders. There you have the seeds of a lot of bickering for position, to my thinking.

But, the most important question for me is - will Saudi Arabia permit and will Saudis want to continue to pay for all this, especially when Al-Qaida in Yemen is trying to topple them by destabilizing Bahrain? If Osama’s personal wealth is removed, someone has to step up with funds.

Today, with the Arab Spring in full bloom, and with most of the Muslim world now feeling free to publicly reject Al-Qaida and its terrorist activities, it may not be easy to find sufficient funding.

Islam has been freed of its most important tormenter. It wasn’t America or Europe or anyone but Osama bin Laden who single-handedly destroyed the ties between the Muslim and Western worlds. It was he, alone, who frightened and angered Americans on 911. It was he who killed more Muslims than the Western forces hunting him down. Perhaps his death will lead to one very great good - the rebirth of brotherhood between Muslims and Christians. And that will be a serious drain on Al-Qaida’s capability to raise funds.

Nobody is talking about money yet, but it does make the terrorist world go round, doesn’t it?

Osama bin Laden is Dead

With the death of Osama bin Laden, America has breathed a collective sigh of relief, tempered with pain for the great losses he caused her and the world, and lightened with the renewed conviction that the United States is not a fading power, that she still stands for good and the determination to make good prevail.

Like all Americans, I had tears in my eyes this morning when I heard the news. I thought of Ground Zero and of President Lincoln on the field at Gettysburg, trying to bolster a nation that had suffered greatly and was still at war. His great Gettysburg Address could have been written for today.

“Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war. . .testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated. . . can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.

We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate. . .we cannot consecrate. . . we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us. . .that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. . . that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. . . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. . . and that government of the people. . .by the people. . .for the people. . . shall not perish from the earth.”

Donald Trump Is Wrong about Wanting to Charge for American Help

Dear Donald Trump, You have some excellent ideas about how to save America from financial disaster. Ideas like becoming petroleum independent and letting American business do what it does much better than any government - create jobs and make the economy prosper.

On the other hand, I don’t know what you studied about American history or culture, or where you’ve been when America helps others. We do it because we are a nation based on Judeo-Christian values. Values which teach us to help others, to do good wherever and whenever we can.

Telling our international friends and neighbors that we will now charge them for doing what our culture asks us to do out of love for our fellow men seems to be reaching a bit too far. And if you think it will solve our financial crisis, you are wrong because it is peanuts in our budgets.

If you are thinking about charging for military assistance, perhaps you ought to look at where South Korea is, for instance. We help those countries where we have vital interests. If you find, as President, that some of our military commitments are misplaced, that our vital interests are not at stake, then you should end them.

But, charging…Mr. Trump, that’s self-defeating and just plain stupid.