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"Iraq the greatest disaster in American foreign policy": Halfbright
"I think that Iraq is going to go down in history as the greatest disaster in American foreign policy," Albright said, with former President Jimmy Carter at her side in one of a series of "Conversations at the Carter Center." "We have lost the element of goodness in American power, and we have lost our moral authority," she said. "The job of the next president will be to restore the goodness of American power."
Goodness really helped us with the NKors when Maddy was in charge.
Albright, who was part of Carter's national security team in the 1970s, long before she was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and secretary of state under President Bill Clinton, said many Americans believe that they should be loved around the world. "We don't have to be loved," she said. "But we shouldn't be feared. We should be respected."
Tell me how this woman became Secretary of State.
Carter, who also has been critical of U.S. military action in Iraq, said that since Albright was secretary of state, "there has been a reduction almost all over the world in trust and esteem by foreigners toward Americans."
Not that it was all that high before; just ask the French. Or the Germans. Or the Spanish ...
He said much of it is "because of an unprecedented policy toward the utilization of military power."

Carter said all previous presidents have said the United States would go to war only if its security was endangered, but that President Bush made it clear that there is a new policy of pre-emptive war. "That is, we're going to go to war if we think that some time in the future a nation might do something that causes our security to be in danger," the former president said.
That's pretty much it.
He said the "unwarranted invasion" of Iraq resulted in bombing that has killed tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians.

Carter and Albright appeared on The Carter Center stage together for what the former president had indicated would be a debate on his controversial book "Palestine Peace Not Apartheid." Answering written questions from the audience, Carter said he felt no need to debate Dennis Ross, a former U.S. Mideast envoy and major player in past Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

Carter said he planned to have a debate with Ross' former boss, Albright, Thursday night. The Carter Center meeting was not exactly a debate, but Albright did say it was important to remember both sides of the conflict. She said she agrees with Carter that it is necessary to recognize the legitimate rights of Palestinians and territorial integrity and that the United States must play a major role in bringing about a peace agreement.

But she said she would not compare Israeli policy to the former apartheid of South Africa. "To me, the single most important problem, actually, was the initial refusal of the Arabs to accept Israel's right to exist, and the subsequent use of terror and violence to change boundaries.

"There's no question, in my mind, that Israel aggravated the problem, especially by the settlements and overreaction," Albright said.
Those darned Israelis, always over-reacting every time an Israeli woman or child was killed ...

Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2007-02-24
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=181314