[speechlesstx]

Why Winnie the Pooh should shape US foreign policy

Richard Danzig, who served as Navy Secretary under President Clinton and is tipped to become National Security Adviser in an Obama White House, told a major foreign policy conference in Washington that the future of US strategy in the war on terrorism should follow a lesson from the pages of Winnie the Pooh, which can be shortened to: if it is causing you too much pain, try something else.

Mr Danzig told the Centre for New American Security: “Winnie the Pooh seems to me to be a fundamental text on national security.”

He spelt out how American troops, spies and anti-terrorist officials could learn key lessons by understanding the desire of terrorists to emulate superheroes like Luke Skywalker, and the lust for violence of violent football fans.

Mr Obama’s candidacy was given an early boost by his opposition to the Iraq war and he has repeatedly said the US needs to rethink its approach to the Middle East.

Mr Danzig spelt out the need to change by reading a paragraph from chapter one of the children’s classic, which says: “Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump on the back of his head behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming down stairs. But sometimes he thinks there really is another way if only he could stop bumping a minute and think about it.”

Mr Obama’s approach will be popular in Europe, where President George W. Bush has spent the week on a farewell tour, arriving in Britain yesterday for meetings with the Queen and Gordon Brown.

In a subtle break from Mr Bush’s belief that the war on terror can be won, Mr Danzig, who is a Pentagon adviser on bioterrorism, warned that while the West can defeat individual terrorist groups and plots, it can never entirely remove the threat posed by nuclear proliferation or the prospect of bioterrorism.

In a briefing which will inform Mr Obama’s understanding of terrorists, Mr Danzig said he learnt much from recent interviews with jailed Aum Shinrikyo terrorists who released sarin nerve gas on the Tokyo underground in 1995.

He said that even people who are relatively well off and successful can feel like failures and become alientated from their societies. He said one terrorist told him: “We have been raised on a theory of superheroes. We all want to be like Luke Skywalker.

"When we’re doing mundane things, we lose track of our ambition but when someone comes along, like Asahara, the head of the cult, and presents himself as a messiah and gives us a picture of progress that is ordained by heaven and that we are carrying out a saintly mission on earth that is for us extraordinarily evocative.”

Mr Danzig added: “The parallels with al Qaeda are obvious.”

He said that another lesson about terrorists can be learnt from studying violent football fans. “One of the best books I’ve read on terrorism in recent years was not about terrorism at all,” he said. “It’s Bill Buford’s book Among the Thugs, which is a description of soccer violence in Britain.

“Buford became absorbed by soccer violence. He describes the most appalling examples of soccer violence by fans against fans. But he describes with relentless honesty how he finds sickening things attractive. He says violence lets the adrenaline flow; it’s like sex, you live in the moment.”

Change we can believe in, Winnie the Pooh foreign policy. At least Mr Obama’s approach will be popular in Europe...

[Choux]

Obama's stance on Afghanistan is more *Conservative*(read using the military) than McBush's Moderate views.

And, with The Taliban blowing up bridges in Afghanistan preparing for war yesterday.

BWAH HA HA


McBush is so out of touch with the reality of foreign policy, he drags his old friend Lieberman around with him so Lieberman can whisper corrections of terrible gaffes into his ear... like the three times he got the Shia and Sunni *CONFUSED* while making a speech.

[speechlesstx]

Obama's stance on Afghanistan is more *Conservative*(read using the military) than McBush's Moderate views.

And, with The Taliban blowing up bridges in Afghanistan preparing for war yesterday.

BWAH HA HA


McBush is so out of touch with the reality of foreign policy, he drags his old friend Lieberman around with him so Lieberman can whisper corrections of terrible gaffs into his ear....like the three times he got the Shia and Sunni *CONFUSED* while making a speech.

Funny how you can laugh and condemn McCain while Obama plans on using Winnie the Pooh as a foreign policy guide.

[Fr_Chuck]

Pick flowers and everyone sing "kum by ya". When he is elected, the sun will be brighter, the storms will stop, we will all sit down with the terrorists and talk things out.

[Skell]

Come on Steve. Surely you can see this for what it is! If something isn't working of course something different needs to be tried. And at the moment it isn't working. What's the definition of insanity again??

[speechlesstx]

Come on Steve. Surely you can see this for what it is! If something isnt working of course something different needs to be tried. And at the moment it aint working. Whas the definition of insanity again????

Skell, lol, I can only imagine the world wide ridicule at President Bush reciting Pooh in a foreign policy address.

[Fr_Chuck]

Was there not some book, everything I ever needed to know I learned in kindergarten or something like that.

[BABRAM]

I read the headlines of this post and thought Bill Clinton made another off-color remark about an African-Americans possible bid for the White House. Seriously though after Dubya's last two terms I'd certainly appreciate having a US president supported in Europe, Asia, Middle East, and the Americas for a change.

[Skell]

Skell, lol, I can only imagine the world wide ridicule at President Bush reciting Pooh in a foreign policy address.

Appreciated! But perhaps that is also due to his "failure". If his war was perceived to be working then I'm sure he could say what he pleases. But it isn't and he cant! :)