Letter: ‘Cowboy diplomacy’ won’t defeat terrorists

Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2006 | 7:21 a.m.

The ongoing worldwide war against terrorism must be dealt with by using a concise and well-thought-out plan of attack. Military might alone will not defeat terrorism. We in the United States cannot eradicate terrorism by ourselves. The fight against terrorism is not just an American or Western civilization problem, but it's a problem that faces all civilized people on this planet.

I have a feeling that the present Bush administration does not fully understand, nor feel compelled to grasp those simple concepts. The White House likes to connect terrorism with the war in Iraq when the two are actually very separate issues. We could literally bomb Iraq back into the Stone Age and the threat of terrorism would not go away.

The Bush administration failed to use the support that we received from around the world in the days, weeks and months immediately after 9/11. The Bushites' use of "cowboy diplomacy," which included a "going it alone" and a "bring 'em on" mentality, actually turned many of our longtime allies against us. This has made our job of fighting terrorism a great deal tougher.

Our battle against terrorism will continue long after the present administration is gone. Old bridges of trust and mutual respect between ourselves and our allies must be rebuilt, and diplomacy must be the watchword if the war against terrorism is to be won. Collectively the world can defeat terrorism. We, as one nation, cannot.

Larry Burgess, Henderson