America and the World

A book report

I found this new book at the Wilmot Public Library. It was published in 2008 before the election for president had been completed. It was interesting for a number of reasons. The first was that it wasn’t written. It consists of taped interviews. The moderator was David Ignatius. The principals were Zbigniew Brezezinski and Brent Scowcroft. Both of these men served many years for different presidents as National Security Advisors. The second is that even though they were of different parties, they agreed on the main issues of concern. Topics discussed were the Cold War, the Middle East, relations with China and other immerging powers, mistakes made over the years and the successes. They have advice to give to the incoming president, whoever he or she might be.
From my lofty position of knowing all things, I found I disagreed on a few of their positions such as;
They feel that those of us critical of illegal immigration are racists. We don’t agree. We believe that for a government to exist there must be rules and laws to follow, otherwise you have chaos. These people flooding into our country, deliberately breaking our laws, have caused great financial distress on law enforcement, medical facilities and undercut the wages that citizens could be earning. We just want order not wanton disregard.
They believe that those of us who want to preserve employment in manufacturing are protectionist. Nothing could be further from the truth. We just want a level playing field. China, in particular breaks every rule in the book with impunity.
They champion our military involvement in the Middle East, whereas I want an orderly withdrawal so that the people of those countries can choose their own destinies without having to suffer under our military occupation.
What I did agree with was their hope that the incoming president would reverse the damage done by our last president and vice president. A statement made was,
” The new president will come into office in a world that is very angry at the United States. I can’t remember, in my lifetime, a time when the world was more hostile to the country”.
All in all, if you are a person interested as I am and keep searching for the truth; you will find this book informative, particularly as they recall decisions made during their tenure.
Jack B. Walters
3961 N. Hillwood Circle
Tucson, AZ 85750
(520) 722-2958
July 9, 2009
jackbwalters@yahoo.com