Editor,
In a speech given in New Hampshire in late 2006, Gov. Bill Richardson said, "One thing the Bush administration has never understood is that diplomacy and military power are not alternatives to one another, but rather complementary sources of strength. Because diplomacy without power is weak, and power without diplomacy is blind."
This is the very core of Richardson's international platform, and the kind of insight he gained as a U.N. ambassador and energy secretary under President Bill Clinton. Richardson's trip to North Korea is already bringing important results.
His international rÇsumÇ is a breath of fresh air, and since the U.S. needs to rebuild and rethink its international policies after six years of corporate, Halliburton-driven plutocracy, I believe Richardson must become president.
Our domestic economy is in the pits because of hundreds of billions of dollars going to Iraq and Afghanistan - mostly military expenditures - all to advance the Bush administration's corporate agenda. Other nations are capitalizing on our errors and distractions - like China, with its trillion-dollar balance of payments, as well as Russia, which has funded many developing nations in their colonial struggles, pointing to our oppressive presence in Iraq and telling African, South Asian and South American nations that they are perfectly willing to buy their natural resources instead of plundering them.
On March 28, Richardson said, "I would not leave any troops in Iraq. ... If I were president today, I would withdraw by the end of this calendar year. ... But I would also have a reconciliation conference of the three religious groups, forge a coalition government and divide the country into three entities."
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The international backlash of a totally failed U.S. foreign policy has profound implications for a worsening domestic economy, and the situation is getting seriously worse by the day. This is why I support Richardson's
presidential campaign.
Stephen Fox
UNM alumnus
