"Never negotiate with the enemy..."
In this Reuters article, it's the Brits who call for negotiations with the Taliban in Afghanistan, and it's the Taliban that rejects it.
Refusing to negotiate with the enemy sure sounds patriotic when Bush or McCain boastfully articulate it, but it sure seems like a petty and irrational principle when the enemy articulates it.
In the end, I've found that hawks are pretty much the same, in whichever country you find them. They simply employ their hawkishness based on the accident of where they were born and what they were brought up to love and hate.
Oh, believe me, I'd rather live under Bush's hawkishness than Mullah Omar's. Bush's hawkishness is the lesser of two evils; but I don't pretend that Bush's hawkishness is somehow the greatest virtue found in humanity. As increasing numbers of Americans agree with me, we're seeing the Palins of the world search frantically for new ways to demonize would-be peacemakers.
You might change your mind about Bush's hawkishness if you lived in Iraq.
Anonymous -- thanks for that, but I do know people from Iraq whose minds have not changed; and I know that many people around that region have become more anti-American on account of what they perceive as Bush's hawkishness.