September 12, 2008
Posted: 2356 GMT

London, England – The U.S. Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, makes it a habit now to tell people that the United States "cannot kill or capture its way to victory" in its war on terror.

A 'very, very interesting woman.'
A 'very, very interesting woman.'

It also needs to prevail in the war of ideas.

"We have to tell America's story," as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, James Glassman, put it at a speech in London this week.

"We need to find the words, the deeds, and the images that show the United States to be a good and compassionate nation," he said.

Mindful of the poor standing of the U.S. in some parts of the world – those parts being the ones Mr. Glassman is inevitably more concerned about – one might expect a rather dour assessment of how things are going.

But actually Glassman reckons he has a hit on his hands.

Or rather two hits: Barack Obama and Sarah Palin.

"Public Diplomacy loves the Presidential election campaign," he said. "It's got people excited about the United States."

"It shows the kind of change that's possible when there's an African-American man in the race and a very very interesting woman."

A simple, powerful message. And where does Glassman need it to resonate most strongly?

Right here in Europe, which, along with the Middle East, he said, ranks among the areas of greatest animosity towards the United States.

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mysterion   September 13th, 2008 1527 GMT

I agree that the U.S is a great nation and to be very proud of .The fantastic Nature -sides from Niagara -falls to Grand Canyon ,very intriging,and attractive.It's fame however ,is based on the freedom of politics ,religion,or whatever,and the fact that everybody,even when you are poorest boy or girl ,you can become Rich and famous.What has happend to this American dream? i'll try to explain.After and During the WWII a lot of german Nazi's immigrated to the U.S.of course they were investigated and questioned and so the secret police of those days learned about the" Geheime Staats Polizei" the GeStaPo (secret state police)and it's secret files that a.o. also Secret weapons like nuclear weapons,that in fact was a german invention ,medical information,scientific research (like Einstein).and specially those ,that came during the last days of "Das 1000-jahrige Reich" brought interesting information in particular when they were Former Gestapo.On the other hand there were those Industrials that made a lot of money with this war,and pretended to have their hands clean.A lot of them had also fought against the Allied forces,and the could find a new home in their most hated enemies land,and started new industries.they could never forget their defeat by the a.o.American army.The secretly sought revenge.With the help of he German communities ,where upon today there are Nazi-parades every year,openly sympathizing with Hitler-Germany.These communities are in the State of Texas.there they found furtile soil, because States like Texas ,the "Southern" that had been defeated by the Northern",plus the idea of slavery and superrace and racism,gave them both simularities in their ideas and common grounds.Both hated the "Northern' because without them ,Germany would have found no enemy in America, in the contrary they would have found an ally.*these inormation changed the Secret sevices, and the leared that to achieve power you need a plan,a script,they actually felt obligated to ,from national secrurity's point of view to do so.

mysterion   September 13th, 2008 1833 GMT

Very natural ,and after the WWII Americans were proud of their freedom and proud of their Army ,that had saved many lives in Europe,with the cost of many troops of the allied forces.they are even soi proud that they happily give their lives ,so others can live ,and there's absolutely nothing wring with that.I consider the U.S Army as one of the best motivated Armies in the world,and the defenders of democracry.What suddenly seem to happen,was actually carefully prepared and slowly without nobody noticing it,there was a coup on the power that cam from a part of the Army,a part that was not interested in America ,but more to "defeat it as a part of revenge,by infiltrared nazi's ,supported by the industrials that also manufactured weapons for the German Army and War has always been in their intrests,because of the Mega profits.As You may know ,but at least this has turned out to be true,the grandfather of Mr Bush (a banquer)did also business with the Nazi's ,he took care even of mr Hitler's personal capital of about,when i'm right ,200,000,000 American Dollars.Okay,what has happened can't be made undone.But imagine,your so heroic army is use by a politician that claims to be patriotic,sends the Army in ,turns out later ,a useless war .Useless,but not Free,but with megacosts,that nearly bancrupted the U.S.,and 4000 bodybag.What kind of patriot would do something like this?do you catch my drift,and although a lot of people didn't vote for Bush.So when you really want change take care of this:AS few years ago in the netherlands,the government also wanted to introduce voting by computer ,like in the U.S.But before the introduction,the wanted to be absolutely sure of the safety and the protection of personal information.What did they found out,was beyond any nightmare,namely it turned out to be totally unsafe,in the neighborhood of the voting computer someone with a laptop ,that knew just a little of networking could easily intercept people's personal information ,plus political preferences.This made the government turn back to the previous voting system Paper and (red)pencil. I have mnot tried to point a finger in any direction as sutch,or try to make accusations, but Democracy has weak spots that can give acces to criminals, to American politics for their own personal needs,and also use the immense power of the U.S Army,get away with it ,and leave you in some kind of war ,while the resourses has vaporized,the Army weakened so much by useless wars that cost trillions and trillion,so that what is left by those criminals,makes it impossible for the U.S.Army to recooperate it's former status,and will be defeated .And what about those trillions ,did they just vanish?No ,it is sobody's profit :weapons ,weapons, weapons .Tens of thousands of deaths,(9-11,the U.S Army Iraqi people ,Afghan people) does just suit them well, and an ode on their philosophy,Frightning the people makes best money. Make them afraid to go on the streets ,he'll by a weapon.Make'm afraid to be home alone,same story.and who has benefit from this :right ,weapon industry,and what happens when people go outside afraid ,they srart just finishing each other of ,because their fear has only increased ,knowing that others have weapons to.And you just simply call it crime ,and business as usual.Of cause everybody has a right to defent himself.But for instance ,when you want to kill some body ,a car is also very effective ,but you can also travel with your family around the world with your car .or a chair :you can kill somerbody or go sit on it.wit a gun you can only get into trouble ,when yousee a gun you gonna use agun ,when you have it in your pocked ,sooner or later you will use it ,when you use it ,others gonna use it too . In the Netherland we have a saying :one man's death is another man's bread. So how safe you want to live in the U.S.Living onthe streets with all having guns around you ,do terrorists treaten you? War on terror means to shoot with another gun.There 's no real difference,and that easy sold,so Ignorance and fear makes you perfect cvostumers. When you kill ,you'll be punished ,when conspire with a deadly result ,you'll be punished ,making guns and freely sell them, the more ,the better while they are manufactured for only one purpose,is legal.do you catch my drift? change and safety and safety and change,changed safety and savety changes protect your freedom by protecting democracy.does frighten people create a safe environment or a free environment?does wearing guns protect you agains any danger? does patriotism mean to wear guns and frighten people?

mysterion   September 13th, 2008 1904 GMT

I hope ,in spite of the grammatical mistakes i made i could make myself clear.I have just little time to write ,so i have to write fast,and the information that i want to share is so much and so diverse that sometimes it might read a little inconvenient.I hope you 'll excuse me for that..but to make it more clear .Te message is in short terms ;find theleaks in democracy and close them.protect democracy to protect freedom,and that it will never happen again that your beautiful country is abused by criminals,whoever or what they are,for you,your family and generations to come,that can be proud ,in that way,of their country as well.This is a safer way to secure society,than pulling guns,bullying around and die honourless.

mike   September 17th, 2008 100 GMT

yes sir i do agree, when a nation sells guns to its own people and then wonders why we have certain crimes that caused by guns...then the nation lives in denial...we are aout to wetness the same thing in politics...living in denial....pro and against guns....pro and against abortion...pro and against religion( i rephrase that christian religion), evangelist, or not evangelist...pro and agaist drilling....pro and against universal health care....pro and agaist taxing the ritch...pro and agaist tax credits for the poor....pro and agaist war......we are a nation of devision, we have always been that why we have survived all these years...but today this generation has reached apoint of boilong thanks to those wonderful years of this government , we have reached the point of no denial that we are in trouble in all forms and shapes... a lesson to learn...do not vote for an idiot in you entire life...we take a risk of losing all you got and all your generation would ever get... do not vote for a trained killer, cause he will kill, do not vote for a killer who groups himself with other killers, because they won't hesitate to kill and won't hesitate to punish...do not believe a liar and a party that lies to you, and have lied to you...do not believe a hypocrite because he shines in your belief...so to solve crime in our nation we must begin with guns.

mike   September 17th, 2008 107 GMT

Sorry one thing i have not said is if you ask any soldiers why did i join the army...most of them will tell you because it pays well...most soldiers that go to iraq have been paid well to kill...we have turned our army in mercenaries getting paid for your kill....excemption volunteers...most of the soldiers will tell you they are fools...thing nobody wants to tell you the truth of the matter, is the recruiters for the army does not carry pictures of dead soldiers and chattered bodies to show you before you sign your contract...being a soldier is a job...it is not a good deed....

Micheal Jackson   September 23rd, 2008 638 GMT

America's soft power will not count for anything with Islamic radicals. They dont care about America's freedoms and free society, the radicals are not interested in America's soft power or America's story. This is a battle of ideology so it is imperative that America stays the course and finishes of this terrorist menace or at least sees it through.
The most recent Marriot explosion hgihlights the fact that these terrorists do not want to negotiate. For them, killing Americans, foreigners and non-muslims is part of their agenda. They believe that it is their birthright to kill people who oppose their beliefs. Eeven worse that Nazis, Islamic extremisim also has a purpose, which is to spread islam through violence by whatever means possible.

The American public should elect a President who will not be afraid to take tough decisions on terror. Someone like Obama, who has never been involved in any war will always oppose military strikes or actions against terrorist countries and their sponsors. This is because Obama plays vote-bank-politics. He is only interested in his political survival so he will do anything and say anything to get elected but he will never back up what he says. America needs to have a President who is not afraid to use her country's awesome military. The job of the military is to fight and America has the best miliatary in the world so America must fight and use its best resources to crush islamic extremism.

Ron Ruys   November 1st, 2008 2232 GMT

I have long been watching the US political scene and have recently spent some time in the US, and frankly you guys just don't get it anymore. Having been involving yourselves in anything that looks like a war becaue it's a good financial mooove to make, you forget that the eonly war you really won was the war of independance which in essence is like kicking your mother out of the house. In those days the red coats make the enemy easy to see, these days you don't know which civilian is the enemy. You should have realised that after Vietnam, but censorship, media manipulation of the facts and a blind view that everyone is after you has made you the greatest war mongers in many centuries. China is not out to attack you, they own you already, financially and hey have no further interest.

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Paula Newton and Andrew CareyNews and observations on the threats to international security and the challenges posed by terrorism to societies around the world. By CNN's International Security Correspondent, Paula Newton, and International Security Producer, Andrew Carey. From breaking news to background stories, from serious analysis to casual asides, if we think it's interesting we'll post it here.

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