02/26/09

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,499984,00.html

The United States and Pakistan have vowed to work together to rid "extremism and terrorism." Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, visited Pakistan to get the support of Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi. Recently, the United States government has been putting pressure on Pakistani officials to keep Taliban camps out of their country. They had been reportedly meeting in Swat Valley.

I personally believe that we need to maintain a tight, formal relationship with Pakistan. They can be a good ally for us due to their position in the region. They have good military capabilities if we needed them to fight with us or to fight on their own. It seems that their Foreign Minister has a pretty good head on his shoulders for not wanting extremist Muslims in his country who will cause the American government to come after them.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,499866,00.html

This article hilights President Barack Obama's plan for U.S. troops to be fully out of Iraq by August 2011. It states that troops will be out of cities by this summer, in order to give the Iraqi people more freedom and their troops a chance to test themselves. The troops will remain in bases outside of Iraqi cities and will begin to move away further from cities until they leave for good. Iraq's Prime Minister has been publicly declaring that he think it is time for American soldiers to be out and to have Iraqis take over. As it is, there are still 140,000 troops in Iraq. They have Parliamentary elections this year, which is a big test for them.

I don't know if I agree with President Obama's plan. History has shown us that if we leave a war zone too soon, it falls apart. We are still in several war zones decades after the conflicts have ended. It will be a big test for the Iraqi troops to see if they can stop their own people from causing incident, without the support of American troops. I personally have little faith for right now, but will be delighted to be proven wrong.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,501604,00.html

This article deals with the recent murders in key tourist areas and spring break destinations. The U.S. State Department has issued a warning to college students to be extremely careful when considering, or going to Mexico in the next few weeks. They advised them to stay away from areas where drugs are sold or prostitution is prevalent. The killings have been due to the warring drug cartels. Mexico's Attorney General has advised that it is perfectly safe for high school and college students to go to Mexico. He claims that they just need to watch their step, just like they normally would. Many students seem to not be worried about violence or that anything will happen to them. If students did not spend their breaks in Mexico, their tourism business would see a huge decline and potentially cripple them.

I personally believe that the Mexican government will do anything possible to make sure the tourists will be kept safe. This is a huge source of income for that part of the country, especially this time of the year. It would really hurt their economy if people did not come down and spend money. The United States governement, at the same time, will be working with Mexican officials to make sure things wil be ok. I believe that students will be fine as long as they do not do anything stupid and try to behave them selves.