' Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.
Clicking on banner ads enables JWR to constantly improve
Jewish World Review Sept. 10, 2002 / 4 Tishrei, 5763

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.

Gaffney
JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Michelle Malkin
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Wes Pruden
Sam Schulman
Amity Shlaes
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports

A model for Iraq


http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | On the eve of what is being billed as a major address to the United Nations, President Bush is being advised to emulate his father's approach on Iraq twelve years ago by making the cobbling together of a broadly based international coalition a precondition to taking on Saddam Hussein. It can only be hoped that -- under today's, very different circumstances -- Mr. Bush will base his diplomacy and actions on a very different model: his recent, hugely successful disentangling of the United States from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty.

Interestingly, there are several noteworthy similarities between the two initiatives. In both cases, George W. Bush's guidance comes from the law of the land. When Mr. Bush became President, he inherited statutory direction adopted by overwhelming bipartisan majorities and signed by Bill Clinton in 1999 that made it the policy of the United States government to deploy effective missile defenses "as soon as is technologically possible." Another policy was also on the books, having been approved by Congress the year before and signed into law as well by President Clinton. It called for toppling Saddam and provided $97 million dollars to equip the Iraqi opposition to help us accomplish that goal.

As was his wont, Mr. Clinton paid lip-service to these initiatives and took credit for enacting them, yet refused to take the steps necessary for the implementation of either one. Fortunately, Mr. Bush not only took an oath faithfully to uphold the law of the land; he is actually determined to do so.

A second parallel involves the courage required to realize these policies. It is useful to recall that in the run-up to his decision to exercise America's right to withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty -- a right conferred by the Treaty itself -- President Bush faced heated domestic and international criticism. Then, as now, he was warned of the dangers of acting "unilaterally," over the adamant objections of the international community and especially the United States' closest allies. The prospects that he would unleash grievous instability and perhaps even Armageddon by proceeding with missile defenses prohibited by the ABM Treaty are not too different from the threats Mr. Bush is told will emerge in the Arab world, and beyond, if he proceeds without a UN mandate for removing Saddam Hussein from power.

In a characteristically lucid and bracing address to the Center for Security Policy last week, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer noted that this nation's founding document, the Declaration of Independence, calls for "due regard for the opinion of mankind." As with the intense consultations that preceded the Bush announcement last December that the United States would cease to adhere to the ABM Treaty, there is much to be said for thoroughly explaining our policy of regime change in Iraq and the factors that impel it to the leaders of other countries. That is not the same thing, however, as subordinating vital national interests to their "opinion."

Our experience in the months since the ABM Treaty expired last June is surely relevant to the President's Iraq initiative, as well. Once it is clear that the United States is going to act pursuant to its perceived national requirements, and that it has both the capability and the leadership to see the policy through, most of the world gets with the program. Today, one scarcely hears about the ABM Treaty and the notion that Mr. Bush's action was actually going to propel the world into cataclysmic arms races, or worse, is seen by those candid enough to admit it for what it always was: Utter nonsense.

To be sure, had the Russians behaved worse, they might have increased the political costs to Mr. Bush of U.S. withdrawal from the ABM Treaty. Some will argue that the lesson for "W." is that the Kremlin must be bought off if he wants to bring down the former Soviet Union's client in Baghdad without grave difficulty from Moscow. This would, however, be a misreading of recent history. While President Bush gave his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin political cover by agreeing to a new treaty formalizing mutual, unilateral commitments to cut strategic forces, as bribes go, it did not amount to much. (Of course, if the President so much as hints at a willingness to pay this time for Russia's acquiescence, Putin will try to charge him dearly.) What actually brought the Russians along on the ABM issue -- and what will prompt them to go along on Iraq -- is the appreciation of American resolve, and a recognition that there is no up-side to opposing us.

Now some will argue that there is a crucial difference between these two politico-military-diplomatic initiatives. One involved rejection of a clearly outdated, albeit talismanic treaty, the other will involve a potentially highly destructive war. This conveniently ignores the assertions from some of the ABM Treaty's particularly hysterical supporters that destroying that "cornerstone of strategic stability" could lead not only to spiraling arms races but actual conflict.

More importantly, the reality is that both President Bush's decision to adhere to the law of the land by withdrawing from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and his commitment to liberate the Iraqi people and end Saddam's weapons of mass destruction program by achieving regime change in Iraq spring from a single source: His determination to defend the American people.

That happens as well to be his constitutional responsibility, and he will fulfill that duty once again on Iraq if his due regard for the "opinion of mankind" on the ABM issue -- consultations, but no veto -- as the model for dealing with the UN about changing Saddam's regime.

Enjoy this writer's work? Why not sign-up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.


JWR contributor Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. heads the Center for Security Policy. Send your comments to him by clicking here.

Up

08/27/02: Beware 'consensus leadership'
08/20/02: To Iraq or not to Iraq?
08/13/02: Trading with the 'enemy'
07/30/02: Who's trashing Ashcroft?
07/23/02: Wall Street's 'poisoned apples'
07/16/02: Back on the China front
07/09/02: See no evil?
07/02/02: Rethinking peacekeeping
06/25/02: Political moment of truth on defense
06/19/02: Inviting losses on two fronts
06/12/02: Make missile defense happen
06/04/02: The next 'Day of Infamy'?
05/29/02: Bush's Russian gamble
05/21/02: The 'next war'
05/15/02: Ex-presidential misconduct
05/07/02: When 'what if' is no game
05/02/02: Careful what we wish for
04/24/02: The real 'root cause' of terror
04/02/02: First principles in the Mideast
03/26/02: 'Renounce this map'
03/20/02: The inconvenient ally
03/12/02: Adults address the 'unthinkable'
03/05/02: The Saudi scam
02/26/02: Rumsfeld's 'now hear this'
02/19/02: Where's the outrage?
02/12/02: Post-mortem on 'Pearl Harbor II'
02/05/02: Spinning on the 'Evil Axis'
01/29/02: A challenge for the history books
01/22/02: Who pulled the plug on the Chinese 'bugs'?
01/15/02: No 'need to know'
01/08/02: Sentenced to de-nuclearize?
12/18/01: Missile defense mismanagement?
12/11/01: Is the Cold War 'over'?
12/04/01: A moment for truth
11/29/01: Send in the marines -- with the planes they need
11/27/01: 'Now Hear This': Does the President Mean What He Says?
11/20/01: Mideast 'vision thing'
11/13/01: The leitmotif of the next three days
11/06/01: Bush's Reykjavik Moment
10/30/01: Say it ain't true, 'W.
10/23/01: Getting history, and the future, right
10/16/01: Farewell to arms control
10/05/01: A time to choose
09/25/01: Don't drink the 'lemonade'
09/11/01: Sudan envoy an exercise in futility?
09/05/01: Strategy of a thousand cuts
08/28/01: Rummy's back
08/21/01: Prepare for 'two wars'
08/14/01: Why does the Bush Administration make a moral equivalence between terrorist attacks and Israel's restrained defensive responses?
08/07/01: A New bipartisanship in security policy?
07/31/01: Don't go there
07/17/01: The 'end of the beginning'
07/10/01: Testing President Bush
07/03/01: Market transparency works
06/27/01: Which Bush will it be on missile defense?
06/19/01: Don't politicize military matters
06/05/01: It's called leadership
06/05/01: With friends like these ...
05/31/01: Which way on missile defense?
05/23/01: Pearl Harbor, all over again
05/15/01: A tale of two Horatios
05/08/01: The real debate about missile defense
04/24/01: Sell aegis ships to Taiwan
04/17/01: The 'hi-tech for China' bill
04/10/01: Deal on China's hostages -- then what?
04/03/01: Defense fire sale redux
03/28/01: The defense we need
03/21/01: Critical mass
03/13/01: The Bush doctrine
03/08/01: Self-Deterred from Defending America
02/27/01: Truth and consequences for Saddam
02/21/01: Defense fire sale
02/13/01: Dubya's Marshall Plan
02/05/01: Doing the right thing on an 'Arab-Arab dispute'
01/30/01: The missile defense decision
01/23/01: The Osprey as Phoenix
01/17/01: Clinton's Parting Shot at Religious Freedom
01/09/01: Wake-up call on space
01/02/01: Secretary Rumsfeld
12/27/00: Redefining our Ukraine policy
12/19/00: Deploy missile defense now
12/12/00: Sabotaging space power
12/05/00: Preempting Bush
11/28/00: What Clinton hath wrought
11/21/00: HE'S BAAAACK
11/14/00: The world won't wait

© 2001, Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.