History Forum / General / British History / December 2003

"The Doggedness of War"

By Charles Krauthammer

Friday, December 26, 2003
The Washington Post

"Yeah, sure.  After 18 years of American sanctions, Moammar Gaddafi
randomly picks Dec. 19, 2003, as the day for his surrender.  By amazing
coincidence, Gaddafi's first message to Britain -- principal U.S. war
ally and conduit to White House war councils -- occurs just days before
the invasion of Iraq.  And his final capitulation to U.S.-British terms
occurs just five days after Saddam Hussein is fished out of a rathole.

Capital! ---- DSH

As Jay Leno would say, what are the odds?  The nine months of
negotiations with Libya perfectly frame the war on Iraq and the fall of
Saddam Hussein.  How is it possible to ignore the most blindingly
obvious collateral benefits?

It is not possible for an intelligent, knowledgeable person to ignore
the most blindingly obvious collateral benefits ---- DSH

Imagine this kind of thinking 58 years ago: "Japan Surrenders -- Years
of War Deprivation Proved Too Much."

Dateline Tokyo, Aug. 14, 1945.  Japan capitulated yesterday to the
allies, worn down by the accumulation of hardships from the war begun
with the sudden outbreak of violence in Hawaii in December 1941.  The
housing shortage in Tokyo had become particularly acute, especially
since the nights of March 9 and 10. And there also has appeared to be an
abrupt downturn in recent economic activity in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Sen. John Kerry was equally ridiculous in his explanation of the Libya
deal: "An administration that scorns multilateralism and boasts about a
rigid doctrine of military preemption has almost in spite of itself
demonstrated the enormous potential for improving our national security
through diplomacy."

Hilarious Magnus Cum Laude! ---- DSH

Unlike Howard Dean, Kerry is not a foreign policy ignoramus.  Does he
really believe that the Libyan surrender is a triumph of
multilateralism?  Does he really think that Libya's capitulation --
coinciding precisely with a preemptive war that destroyed Saddam
Hussein -- is a contradiction of the "rigid doctrine of military
preemption"?

No, he's temporizing, fabricating and fibbing ---- hoping to attract the
lunatic-left Democrats to his banner ---- seducing them away from Howard
Dean. ---- DSH

What kind of naif thinks that this is a triumph for "diplomacy," as if,
say, Bill Clinton had sent Warren Christopher to Tripoli, and he chatted
Gaddafi into surrendering his WMDs?

Kerry = A Desperate Pogue ---- Who Has Wanted To Be President All His
Life.  ---- DSH

The Democrats seem congenitally incapable of understanding that force
has not just the effect of disarming the immediate enemy but a deterrent
effect on others similarly situated. Iraq was not attacked randomly.  It
was attacked as part of a clearly enunciated policy -- now known as the
Bush Doctrine -- of targeting, by preemptive war if necessary, hostile
regimes engaged in terror and/or refusing to come clean on WMDs.

Precisely!  The BUSH DOCTRINE ---- Producing Results.... ---- DSH

Yes, the Democrats of 2003 just don't understand either the productive
use of force or coercive diplomacy ---- in a dangerous world.  This
makes them totally unsuited and disqualified for managing the National
Security Policies of the United States and defending the American People
from all enemies foreign and domestic ---- which is the PRINCIPAL duty
of ANY government ---- and is indeed called out in the Constitution of
the United States. ---- DSH

Mullah Omar did not get the message and is now hiding in a cave
somewhere.  Saddam Hussein did not get the message and ended up in a
hole.  Gaddafi got the message. ---- CK

RIGHT!!! ---- DSH

Diplomacy is fine.  But we are dealing not with Canada but with gangster
regimes.  In rogue states, the only diplomacy that ever works is
diplomacy at the point of a bayonet.  Why, even the hapless Hans Blix
went out on a limb to speculate that "I would imagine that Gaddafi could
have been scared by what he saw in Iraq."

"The hapless Hans Blix..." indeed.  Blix is totally clueless as to the
means required to deal with GANSTER REGIMES and FAILED STATES, of which
Iraq was one. ---- DSH

Ashton Carter, co-director of the Harvard-Stanford Preventive Defense
Project, agreed that "what we did in Iraq put countries like Libya on
notice that we're really serious about countering proliferation."  To be
sure, Carter prefaced this obvious truth with the Blixian phrase "one
certainly hopes that."  But that is to be expected from an adviser to
Howard Dean.

Indeed.  But Ashton Carter is simply employing the standard timid,
arse-covering, Harvard Fig Leaf in his statement ---- oft-noted in those
environs. ---- DSH

Do the Democrats really not see the larger picture, or do they pretend
not to because it is an election year? ---- CK

Both. ---- DSH

The domino effects of the Iraq campaign are already in clear view.  It
is no accident that Iran has agreed to surprise nuclear inspections.
Mind you, I do not hold much hope for this; it will take far more to
disarm the mullahs, possibly U.S. airstrikes during a second Bush
administration.  But for now, Bush's willfulness and determination in
Iraq have persuaded Iran to grab a European plan for inspections rather
than face the wrath of the United States. ---- CK

Bingo!  Yes, Virginia, there is a DOMINO EFFECT in International
Affairs---- DSH

Elsewhere in the Middle East, Hezbollah has been quiet since the war.
Syria has made its first peace overture in years. Libya has now
confessed and capitulated on WMDs.

And that's not counting Iraq, which with Saddam Hussein captured has
finally turned a historic corner and may be on its way to establishing
the first pluralistic, representative pro-Western Arab polity in the
region.

These are not triumphs of diplomacy.  These are the aftershocks of war."
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Indeed ---- And Paul Wolfowitz and his fellow NEO-CONSERVATIVES deserve
a GREAT deal of the CREDIT.

D. Spencer Hines

Lux et Veritas et Libertas

Vires et Honor

Exitus Acta Probat