From the WSJ Opinion Archives
What Price Popularity?
We've just returned from Europe, our first visit to the Continent in three years.
It was just as we remembered it: a charming if technologically backward place
that still uses the metric system but also doesn't persecute smokers. About
the only new thing is the euro, the 12-nation (for now) single currency, which
is a boon for tourists since it saves you the trouble of exchanging different
varieties of ducats whenever you cross a border.
Europe, in short, hasn't changed much since Sept. 11, 2001, which is not what you'd expect if you'd been listening to certain Americans--specifically, opponents of the Bush administration. To hear them tell it, Europe is full of hostility toward America, resentful over the liberation of Iraq and various other American policies. Having actually visited the place, we didn't see it. Oh, we heard a few disparaging comments about President Bush, but no worse than what we hear here in New York City. (Actually, it's kind of cute that, say, a Belgian would take an interest in America's leadership. Is there a single American who even knows who the head of Belgium is?)
The notion that the Bush administration is wrong because "the rest of the world" objects to its policies may just be a symptom of intellectual immaturity. "Everyone thinks you're wrong" is the sort of argument you expect to hear from elementary-school classmates, not adult policy makers. But there are people who take very seriously the idea that national-security policy is some sort of popularity contest. One of them, indeed, preceded Colin Powell as secretary of state.
In an article for Foreign Affairs, Madeleine Albright opines that while liberating Iraq was justified, it was a bad idea anyway because it "frightens and divides the world." She asserts that liberating Iraq has actually harmed the war against al Qaeda:
Instead of simply asking others to oppose al Qaeda, [the president] now asks them to oppose al Qaeda, support the invasion of an Arab country, and endorse the doctrine of preemption--all as part of a single package. Faced with this choice, many who staunchly oppose al Qaeda have nevertheless decided that they do not want to be "with" the United States.
She cites no actual evidence that disagreements over Iraq have undermined cooperation over al Qaeda. It's worth noting, though, that when Albright was in a position to do something about al Qaeda, she demurred--for precisely the same reason that she now thinks freeing Iraq from Saddam Hussein's rule was a mistake.
The concluding chapter of Richard Miniter's new book, "Losing bin Laden: How Bill Clinton's Failures Unleashed Global Terror" (available at the OpinionJournal bookstore) recounts a meeting of President Clinton's national-security team in the wake of the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole. Robert Novak has a useful summary of the meeting, at which Richard Clarke, Clinton's "terrorism czar," advocated a strike against bin Laden but everyone else present opposed it.
Albright says she was against such a strike because there was not yet "definitive" proof that al Qaeda was behind the bombings. "To strike without evidence or any expectation of hitting bin Laden would have turned world opinion against the United States at the very moment we were seeking maximum cooperation in tracking down the terrorist network responsible for the murders," she wrote in an e-mail to Miniter. It is possible that the Sept. 11 attacks would have been averted had Albright and her colleagues been more concerned about American security and less about "world opinion."
Rough
Patch in Iraq
Two major terrorist bombings killed scores of people in Iraq in the latter half
of August. Both seem to have been assassinations, and both killed their apparently
intended targets: Sergio Vieira de Mello, the U.N. special representative in
Baghdad, and Ayatollah Muhammed Bakr al Hakim, a leading Shiite cleric in Najaf.
Little wonder that these were easy targets. The New York Times reports that both the United Nations and Najaf's Shiite clergymen had asked the U.S. not to provide military protection. The arrogance and stupidity of the U.N. is especially striking; the Times reports that it actually continued employing the same Baathist "security guards"--actually spies for Saddam's regime--it had used before liberation.
When Saddam ruled the country, of course, the U.N. and the Baathists were de facto allies, since various U.N. arrangements assured that Saddam would remain in power. The U.N. leadership does not seem to have grasped that Saddam's overthrow destroyed the U.N.'s usefulness to him. And these are the people we're supposed to let run U.S. foreign policy?
What
Would We Do Without Generals?
"Generals: Terrorists in Iraq Pose Threat"--headline, Associated Press,
Aug. 22
Grateful
Terrorists
Antiwar protesters down under are finally getting some recognition. Australia's
Daily Telegraph quotes a man named simply Sawad, who helped mix the explosives
used in last year's Bali nightclub bombing, as saying: "I want to thank the
Australian people who supported our cause when they demonstrated against the
policies of George Bush. Say thank you to all of them."
In November 2001, the New York Times reported that Osama bin Laden himself thanked Western "antiwar" demonstrators, in an interview with Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir:
Mr. bin Laden had also been impressed by the coverage of protests in the West against the American bombing of Afghanistan, Mr. Mir said, and appeared to believe that antiwar sentiments could be used to his advantage.
"He said, 'I admit there are many good and innocent people living in the West,' " Mr. Mir said, and suggested they should oppose the American policy, as with the Vietnam War.
What
Would We Do Without Officials?
"Military May Be Necessary, Officials Say"--headline, (Eugene, Ore.)
Register-Guard, Aug. 25
Our
Friends the Saudis
In a report on Gerald Posner's new book, "Why America Slept," Time
magazine relates this anecdote about Abu Zubaydah, an al Qaeda terrorist who
has been in U.S. custody since March 2002:
When questioning stalled, according to Posner, CIA men flew Zubaydah to an Afghan complex fitted out as a fake Saudi jail chamber, where "two Arab-Americans, now with Special Forces," pretending to be Saudi inquisitors, used drugs and threats to scare him into more confessions.
Yet when Zubaydah was confronted by the false Saudis, writes Posner, "his reaction was not fear, but utter relief." Happy to see them, he reeled off telephone numbers for a senior member of the royal family who would, said Zubaydah, "tell you what to do." The man at the other end would be Prince Ahmed bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz, a Westernized nephew of King Fahd's and a publisher better known as a racehorse owner. His horse War Emblem won the Kentucky Derby in 2002. To the amazement of the U.S., the numbers proved valid.
As we noted last year, Aziz died at 43, a few months after Zubaydah's capture, part of a curious string of deaths of youngish Saudi princes.
Researchers
on Terror Consult Calendar
"Researchers on Terror Warn Another Sept 11 Likely"--headline, Reuters,
Aug. 17
The
Whine Spectator
The Council on American Islamic Relations is up in arms because an Ohio school
told 17-year-old Amal Jamal that her Muslim headscarf violates the school's
dress code. CAIR honcho Ibrahim Hooper denounces the school for "denying
a student the right to her religious belief."
Just one problem: The school, Regina High, is a Catholic school. Do Muslim schools let Christian girls show up to class in miniskirts?
Bush
Lite
Democrats were up in arms back in May, when President Bush gave a speech aboard
an aircraft carrier congratulating America's servicemen for their victory in
Iraq. But now Sen. John Kerry seems to be doing his best to imitate the president.
Kerry, the haughty, French-looking Massachusetts Democrat, who by the way served
in Vietnam, formally announced his presidential candidacy today, Fox News reports:
Against the backdrop of the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, docked in South Carolina, Kerry emphasized his Vietnam experience as he explained why he would be a better wartime president than Bush.
"I reject George Bush's new vision of a government that comforts the comfortable at the expense of ordinary Americans," said Kerry. "George Bush's vision does not live up to the America I enlisted in the Navy to defend.
Is it really a good idea for Kerry to place such emphasis on his Vietnam service? America today, after all, finds itself fighting a war we must win; do we really want to be reminded constantly of the only war we ever lost?
Meanwhile, Kerry has finally posed for a photo with blogger Kevin Schmidt of NineDwarfs.com, who turns out to be only slightly taller than the senator.
Howard Dean Imitates Us
"Maybe if Dr. Dean is the nominee, he can make Dr. Kevorkian his running-mate."--Best of the Web Today, July 29
"Dean Endorses Assisted Suicide"--headline, LifeNews.com, Aug. 21
Edwards
to Retire?
Pseudonymous blogger Robert
Musil notes the news buried in an otherwise excruciatingly dull piece by
the New York Times' Adam Nagourney: Sen. John Edwards, who's up for re-election
next year, "is almost certain to bow out of the Senate race and run for
the White House, his aides said." Edwards's seat may be jinxed: No one
since Sam Ervin has held it for more than one term, and it has changed parties
every six years since 1980. North Carolina is a Republican-leaning state, so
an Edwards retirement would be a good pickup opportunity for the GOP.
Great Orators of the Democratic Party
- "One man with courage makes a majority."--Andrew
Jackson
- "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."--Franklin
Roosevelt
- "The buck stops here."--Harry
Truman
- "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your
country."--John
Kennedy
- "The issue is the issues."--Wesley
Clark
- "You'd be taking them to the Better Business Bureau if you bought a washing
machine the way we went into the war in Iraq."--Wesley Clark
- "Until he [Arnold Schwarzenegger] sits in those shoes--and I don't think he's going to have a chance to--he's really in no position to criticize what we've done."--Gray Davis
What
Would We Do Without Duncan Campbell?
"Some of the candidates in the race to become governor of California have
made asses of themselves, says Duncan Campbell."--(London) Guardian, Sept.
2
The
Lighter Side of Politics
"Democratic presidential contenders are blaming President Bush for the
massive blackout in the northeastern United States and Canada," the Associated
Press reports:
Senator John Kerry says the blackout "underscores a blackout in this administration on energy policies."
Representative Richard Gephardt says the blackouts can be linked to the Republicans rejection of a plan to modernize the power grid in 2001.
OK, this is a two-week-old story, but we've been away, and somehow this is even funnier now than it was immediately after the lights came back on. Did these guys really think the blackout was going to win the election for them?
Who
Knew?
"Survey: Job Security a Challenge for Those on Welfare"--headline,
Houston Chronicle, Aug. 23
Pollution
From Trees to Get Worse
"EPA Exempts Plants From Clean-Air Rule"--headline, Associated Press,
Aug. 27
Not Too Brite
CVII. "A man died when a car crashed through a sea wall and fell on him while he was reading on a beach," Reuters reports from London.
CVIII. "A Norwegian accidentally shot and wounded six of his friends at a surprise party to celebrate his 40th birthday," Reuters reports from Oslo. "The party was canceled."
CIX. "A Cambodian teenager died of suffocation after a fish he caught jumped out of his hands and lodged in his throat," Reuters reports from Phnom Penh.
CX. "A New Mexico man was charged with beating a woman to death with a lead pipe because he did not want to share his Budweiser beer with her," Reuters reports from Albuquerque.
Oddly Enough!
But wait. Why doesn't this story appear under the "Oddly Enough" heading: "Reuters cameraman Mazen Dana, an award-winning journalist who had covered some of the world's hottest spots, was shot dead on Sunday while filming near a U.S.-run prison on the outskirts of Baghdad," Reuters reports from the Iraqi capital. Apparently the "news" service views everyone's death as funny except its own employees'.
Nice
Work, if You Can Get It
"Man Wanted for Fondling Women"--headline, WLBT-TV Web site (Jackson,
Miss.), Aug. 27
Today
Baghdad, Tomorrow Stockholm
Now that America has liberated Afghanistan and Iraq, lots of people have been
asking who's next on the list. May we suggest Sweden? We'll admit there are
some good arguments against this, notably that the Swedish regime doesn't really
pose a threat to anyone other than Swedish taxpayers. But there's a good argument
in favor too: It would be really easy, at least if we invade after 5 p.m. "Sweden's
armed forces will operate only during office hours for the rest of the year
to cut costs," the Australian Broadcast Corp. reports:
They will also cut fighter plane patrols to a minimum, keep navy ships in port, mothball armoured vehicles and stop using large-calibre live ammunition during exercises.
The centre-left Social Democratic Government has told the military to cut spending by $83 million this year as part of an overall effort to keep the budget from falling into deficit. . . .
A parliamentary defence commission said in a recent report that the likelihood of Sweden facing a military threat in the foreseeable future was very small.
If you thought Iraq was a cakewalk, you ain't seen nothing yet. And a war on Sweden will also make peace protesters look even sillier than they already do. How can you take someone seriously who carries a sign saying "No Blood for Herring"?
(Elizabeth Crowley helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Jennifer Ray, Elliot Ganz, Natalie Cohen, Thomas Mayer, David Merrill, Robert LeChevalier, Michael Segal, Rosanne Klass, Dan Kolehouse, Lawrence Peck, Jerome Marcus, Greg Yamada, Nick Eckert, Monty Krieger, Raghu Desikan, Charles Matthews, C.E. Dobkin, Martin Leinweber, Marshall Smith, Dan Owens, Jason Woodward, Pat Mizell, Lorne McClenaghan, Nathan Bauman, Daniel Foty, Ben Anderson, Michael Simons, Wayne Brown, Lew Prince, Marv Benson, John Forsberg, Edward Morrissey, David Ringelman, Paul Siebenshuh, Paul Ruschmann, Gabriel Winkler, Richard Zahn, Ruth King, Lyle Yarnell, Duke Lancaster and Ann Ellwood. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)
Today on OpinionJournal:
- Paul Wolfowitz : Iraq isn't part of the war on terror? Try telling the soldiers that.
- John Fund on Hillary Clinton, the anti-Dean.
- Catesby Leigh on the Kennedy Center, urban-planning fiasco.
