The Foreign Service Journal, March 2005

L E T T E R S u could with his “good old boy” per- sona, and his winks and smirks and sneers. John Kerry is an intelligent, honorable and articulate man, but the fact that he was unable to exploit the glaring failures of the Bush administration raises some question about his potential effec- tiveness as president. Bush’s policies have resulted in the isolation of the U.S. and a quag- mire in Iraq that has no honorable solution, no matter who is in the White House. There is, however, a silver lining: the Bush administra- tion’s simple-minded approach to the war on terror guarantees its fail- ure in the long run. You cannot defeat terrorism by killing terrorists. If Kerry had won the election, he would have been blamed for the inevitable disaster in Iraq, and the Republicans would have been poised for a comeback in 2008. Now Bush will have to accept the consequences of his own misguided actions. The country will then turn to the Democrats to rescue them from the disaster of the Bush administration, thus ushering in a more enlightened period of govern- ment in this country. Frank Huffman RSO, retired Washington, D.C. n Send your letters to: journal@afsa.org. Note that all letters are subject to editing for style, format and length. M A R C H 2 0 0 5 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 9