Thomas Friedman of the New York Times is extremely insightful on the primary issue facing the Bush administration in it’s foreign policy in general, but especially when it comes to the Middle East. This administration has failed when it comes to translating stated policy into practice. They can talk the talk, but they can’t walk the walk.

How good are they at translating principles into practice? When it comes to breaking things they are very, very good - whether it is the ABM treaty, the Kyoto accord, Afghanistan, Iraq or the old way of Arab-Israeli peacemaking. The Bush people believe in power and are not afraid to wield the wrecking ball. But how good are they with a hammer and a nail? How good are they at the detail work of building real alternatives - to Kyoto, Saddam or the Arab-Israel peace process? This is still the most important unanswered question about this administration. Can it reap the harvest of the principles it has sown?

Don’t get me wrong — ultimately it is up to Israelis, Palestinians and Iraqis to liberate themselves. They have to want it. But at this stage, we have to use our power to help create the context for them to do it. And that is hard. It means taking hits politically and militarily, which is why if we are to do it right we really have to want it bad.

I don’t think the Bush administration wants peace that badly. The President is not willing or able to put in the time, effort and resources it will take to build a two-state solution in Israel or to build democracy in Iraq.

Friedman also makes a powerful statement about why Americans should care about what happens next, “[B]ecause if we’ve learned anything since 9/11, it’s that the spreading flames of Middle East conflicts have, in a world without walls, begun affecting our quality of life. Their madness has become our metal detectors — and we’ve had enough of it.”

I’m in 100% agreement with Friedman’s arguments. We will not have peace on our shores until we act to stabilize the Middle East. We’ve proven we can destroy, now we have to prove we can build the kind of world we say we want.