A recent guest editorial and a column in the Aiken Standard illustrated a common ignorance of the purpose of a proper foreign policy.
The Post and Courierâs op-ed, âBiden must be wary on Iran, Middle Eastâ (12/2/20), argued that Biden must not act too fast to âend military support for Saudi Arabiaâ as that would decrease stability in the Middle East and âamount to large concessions to Iran,â which would weaken the U.S. position in nuclear negotiations with Iran. Notice the underlying assumption that it is possible to have a meaningful negotiation with a nation that calls for our destruction every day and has never made reparations â let alone apologized â for its act of war in seizing our embassy and holding American hostages for more than a year. A further assumption is that an enemy of our enemy should be our friend. Is this true when both enemies are major exporters of an ideology that preaches the destruction of our values? Yet another assumption is that one purpose of our foreign policy is to improve stability in the rest of the world.