Lots of opinions on the left about this "war". I keep getting shrill email from liberal friends--call the White House! The Iraqi people don't want war! Vote Democratic! Vote against the jerks who supported the war powers act!
What about 8 years of Clinton Administration bombing Iraq? What about speeches by Clinton and Daschle back in 1998, saying military force is the only alternative if Iraq refuses to allow inspections? You didn't hear a peep out of the Demos about that now did you? GWBush is simply continuing this policy and taking it to its logical conclusion, and for this he gets flamed online, in editorials, on TV/Radio, etc.
The truth is that poll after poll has shown that a majority of Americans want to see Iraq defanged, and even a majority of Europeans (though not their governments). What people are reluctant about is unilateral actions taken outside of the U.N. Of course you know that the U.S. is cutting some sort of deal right now with China, Russia, etc. in the back rooms. Give us Iraq, and we'll give you lower import duties on your memory boards, that sort of thing.
Just read a very funny article in The Weekly Standard about GW Bush's deceptive simplicity and how it drives his adversaries crazy. Gov. Ann Richards of Texas kept calling him names, e.g. "shrub", "that jerk", etc., and he kept calling her... "Governor Richards". Texans booted her out.
He's actually very shrewd, and very civil, and very willing to compromise. Don't be surprised if the U.S. comes to the brink of invasion, then Saddam H. blinks and allows full inspection, and the U.S. goes away. It's quite likely, in fact, though I do hope they go in and take this guy out eventually before he figures out how to drop that stuff that causes liver cancer on someone other than the Kurds, not to mention his desperate effort to build a nuke.
February 28, 2003
The end game has begun. The U.S. and U.K. have about 200,000 men poised for an invasion of Iraq. Iraq's government is caving to the inspectors' demands right and left. The French, Germans, Russians, Chinese and Belgians are calling for "more inspections" as an alternative to war. Interestingly, none of these countries have invested in a military presence in the region; they are merely onlookers with varying degrees of economic and political liability.
The western Europeans have been busy trashing the Anglo-American hard line approach; yet, without this approach the Iraqis would never have allowed the inspectors back in to begin with. One wonders what Chirac and Schroeder would have offered as an alternative. Clearly, it is only the real threat of military force that Iraq understands; talk's cheap, as Clinton amply demonstrated during his eight years at the helm. As for the continental powers, they have done more to discredit themselves than had they simply abstained from the debate. In addition, they have severely damaged relations with the U.S. at a time when the democracies of the world should demonstrate solidarity and unity of purpose.
Conversely, the former Warsaw Pact countries, including Poland and the Czech Republic, have asserted their independence from the Franco-German hegemony by demonstrating a strongly pro-American bent. The E.U., led by Chirac, has sternly warned them that they may be penalized for their pro-American leanings, which has stirred a minor diplomatic crisis on the continent. Perhaps the E.U. needs to reconsider its own priorities, which today seem to be a pointless mishmash of anti-competitive bureaucracy and anti-American policy, neither of which carry any credibility in the former Communist countries.
China is a different story. It's a no-brainer for them to oppose the U.S. when it costs them nothing. They know the Americans will keep pouring money into their country no matter what they say about America's "hegemonist" foreign policy. After all, it distracts their people from their own considerable social and political problems. There's been talk in the U.S. about boycotting the South Koreans for their anti-American demonstrations and, more recently, about boycotting French and German products. Perhaps people should reconsider those ubiquitous "Made in China" items as well, if it's even possible to find an alternative these days.
Number of times this page has been accessed: