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Jewish World Review Oct. 19, 2001 / 2 Mar-Cheshvan, 5762

Debra J. Saunders

Debra J. Saunders
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Consumer Reports

Before America gets tired of the war on terrorism

http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- "WHEN you strike one American, you strike us all," President Bush said yesterday at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield. Bush also declared America as "strong and resolved and united."

He must have been right about the "united" part because after his speech Bush met with Gov. Gray Davis and Davis emerged declaring the tete-a-tete "a very positive meeting."

The last time Bush was in California, in May, Davis merrily gave Dubya a PR- thrashing as he complained how Bush's energy policies were giving California consumers "a raw deal."

But on this serene Wednesday, on an Air Force One stop in Fairfield and Sacramento on the way to China, Davis was Dubya's new best friend. He even talked up Bush's energy policies. He repeated the mantra that America is "united." And: "one people, one America."

Unity was apparent among the 3,800 people who came to see Bush speak in Sacramento. They loudly sang along with "G-d Bless the USA -- Proud to Be an American." Their eyes were misty. They cheered when Bush promised, "We will not tire. We will not falter, and my fellow Americans, we will not fail."

Bush is aware that the cheering may not last forever. Yesterday morning, the White House released a transcript of an interview Bush gave to Asian journalists in advance of Bush' trip to Shanghai. During the interview, one editor asked if the administration's Korean policy would change if North Korea resumed hostilities and "the war prolongs, as you have expected, one or two years."

Toward the end of the interview, Bush addressed the time issue: "You mark my words, people are going to get tired of the war on terrorism. And by the way, it may take more than two years. . . . You said one or two years. I envision something taking longer than that."

No doubt, Bush has a very personal sense of the danger of waging war, then withdrawing too soon. His father's 1991 decision to cease fire on Saddam Hussein's forces after 100 hours of ground operations in the Persian Gulf War was true to the international coalition's stated goals. However, 48 more hours of fighting might have made a difference in weakening the ring around Hussein and, if not in shortening his tenure, at least in undermining his power and making him less able to wreak havoc on his own people.

Bush predicted in his interview with the Asian journalists that "Some people are going to start to say: We're tired, but President Bush keeps going on." He foresees the day when resolve and unity may weaken, but promised to keep fighting "because I think it's the right thing to do."

Already in one corner of America, there is no resolve and no sense of unity.

Tuesday night, the Berkeley City Council approved by a 5-to-4 vote a resolution calling for a stop to the bombing of Afghanistan "as quickly as possible."

No doubt many Berkeleyites oppose the bombing on some sort of principle or another. Some may be pacifists, others just seem knee-jerk anti-American.

Still, whether it was their intent or not, supporters of the resolution cannot deny that their vote sends a message to Osama bin Laden: Don't attack Berkeley -- we're your buds.

And: Don't hurt Berkeley. You want Americans to fight with each other. You want our resolve to buckle. This town is where the disunity in America begins.


Comment JWR contributor Debra J. Saunders's column by clicking here.


Up


10/17/01Patriot games
10/15/01 I was a 'McCainiac,' and I have seen the light
10/12/01 University of Censorship's fall semester
10/11/01 Poor little rich boy, Osama
10/07/01 Don't feed Israel to the beast
10/05/01: bin Laden is not our Frankenstein monster
10/04/01: Where no man has gone before
09/26/01: Who's bloodthirsty?
09/26/01: What's to understand?
09/20/01: Barbara Lee's line in the sand
09/14/01: You gotta love this country
09/13/01: ENTER TERROR
09/11/01: You can't clone ethics
09/06/01: NOW's goal: equal rights for women without equal responsibility
08/30/01: What's love got to do with it?
08/24/01: A clean, well-lighted place for junkies
08/20/01: Bush should stand up for justice
08/08/01: Don't give Peace (Dept). a chance
08/03/01: Lose a kid, pass a law
08/01/01: Welcome to France, killers
07/30/01: Why it's easy being green (in Europe)
07/26/01: If disabled means expendable
07/23/01: Condit should not resign
07/18/01: Feinstein should learn her limit
07/16/01: A drought of common sense
07/13/01: The catalog has no clothes
07/05/01: It's Bush against the planet
07/03/01: The man who would be guv
06/29/01: Wheeled, wired and free
06/27/01: O, fearful new world
06/25/01: End HMO horrors
06/21/01: Either they're dishonest or clueless
06/18/01: Freedom is a puff of smoke
06/15/01: In praise of going heavy: Yes, you can take it all
06/13/01: McVeigh: 'Unbowed' maybe, but dead for sure
06/11/01: Gumby strikes back
06/08/01: Los Angeles' last white mayor?
06/07/01: Kids will be kids, media will be media
06/04/01: Draw a line in the sand
05/30/01: Just don't call him a moderate
05/29/01: Operation: Beat up on civil rights
05/24/01: Of puppies, kittens and huge credit-card debts
05/22/01: Bush needs an energy tinkerbell
05/18/01: Divided we stand, united they fall
05/16/01: Big Bench backs might over right
05/15/01: Close SUV loophole
05/11/01: Kill the test, welcome failure
05/09/01: DA mayor's disappointing legacy
05/07/01: If it ain't broken ...
05/03/01: They shoot civilians, don't they?
04/30/01: Executions are not for prime time
04/12/01: White House and the green myth
04/10/01: The perjurer as celeb
04/04/01: Bush bashers don't know squat
04/02/01: Drugging our oldsters
03/30/01: Robert Lee Massie exercises his death wish
03/28/01: Cheney's nuclear reactor
03/26/01: Where California and Mexico meet
03/16/01: Boy's sentence was no accident
03/14/01: Soft money, hard reform
03/12/01: Banks, big credit lines and consumer bankruptcy
03/09/01: Free speech dies in Berkeley
03/02/01: When rats have rights
02/28/01: Move a frog, go to jail?
02/26/01: They knew they'd get away with it
02/20/01: How Dems define tax fairness
02/16/01: The jackpot casino Carmel tribe?
02/14/01: You can fight school success
02/12/01: Hannibal -- with guts this time
02/08/01: A family of jailbirds
02/05/01: Reality's most demeaning TV moments
02/01/01: Justice for the non-Rich
01/26/01: Hail to the chiefs of D.C. opinion
01/24/01: A day of mud and monuments
01/22/01: Diversity, division, de-lovely D.C.
01/19/01: Parties agree: Give back the money
01/17/01: Get tough with the oil companies, or forget pumping more Alaskan crude
01/15/01: Mineta better pray that no attending confirmation senator has ever driven to San Jose during rush hour
01/12/01: Europeans should look in the mirror
01/10/01: Dems' reasons for dissin' Dubya's picks
01/08/01: Jerry, curb your guru
01/03/01: A foe of Hitler and friend of Keating
12/28/00: Nice people think nice thoughts
12/26/00: The Clinton years: Epilogue
12/21/00: 'Tis the season to free nonviolent drug offenders 12/18/00: A golden opportunity is squandered
12/15/00: You can take the 24 years, good son
12/13/00: Court of law vs. court of public opinion
12/08/00: A salvo in the war on the war on drugs
12/06/00: Don't cry, Butterfly: Big trees make great decks
12/04/00: Florida: Don't do as Romans did
11/30/00: Special City's hotel parking ticket
11/27/00: No means yes, yes means more than yes
11/22/00: The bench, the ballot and fairness
11/20/00: Mendocino, how green is your ballot?

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