New US foreign policy

As talks continue between Iraq and the US continue concerning the ultimate withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, the next President of the United States should focus on a few essential goals instead of the far wider aims now being employed by the Bush administration. Instead of assuming that democratizing nations such as Iraq and Afghanistan will turn them into reliable allies, the US should focus on basic security needs, the most important of which is preventing nuclear weapons getting into the hands of terrorists.

Holding free elections is not sufficient to establishing democracy. Attempts at "long distance social engineering" rarely work because the local population does not feel that they own the project. Developing a democratic culture takes more than a generation, especially in cultures with no historical institutions to support democracy. Sudden liberation is often followed by a dramatic upsurge in organized crime and anti-social behavior, i.e., Russia.

As such the first priority of the next Presient of the United States should be exporting security, not democracy.

There are 85 days until the presidential election. And, it's been 2,726 days since there's been a terrorist attack on US soil. Good day and God bless!