Editorials/Bush Resurrected/A Conference for Chaos
Tyrrell, R. Emmett Jr.
EDITORIALS BUSH RESURRECTED by R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. W here were you when first notified of the political death of George Herbert Walker Bush? Well, those of us who harbor an intense interest in...
...Right now, in a turbulent area fraught with religious and ethnic discord of, shall we say, arabesque cornplexity, Israel defends Western interests...
...As the Iraq-Iran war and the violence in Lebanon demonstrate, the Middle East is not tranquil Scandinavia...
...Charity enjoins me from relating his identity...
...The Reagan Administration's projected peace conference for the Middle East promises chaos too, but it will not keep us free of foreign entanglements as did old Mr...
...Reagan also fared badly in the Iowa caucuses back then...
...Carter," Reeves declared...
...Kellogg's diplomacy...
...Yet now our government wants to bring together a conference with some of the most violent regimes on earth and return Israel to its 1967 borders, separating it from territories it took inself-defense during the 1967 war, a war that nearly cost Israel its life...
...Whoever comes to power will be on our side...
...The Democrats in 1980 had a favorite Republican opponent too...
...The former California governor was a set-up for Mr...
...In those days our Secretary of State was even wilier than the suave French...
...The Middle East itself is a crossroads linking three continents, a thoroughfare for oil shipments to the West...
...Certainly the Palestinians have a right to their own state...
...Nationally he was the front-runner by a volupt margin...
...Enlightened Washington's line was: "Bush will be out of it after New Hampshire...
...Geopolitical curiosity had taken me to the Caribbean for a week of reconnoitering during which I was out of touch with presidential campaigning...
...News & World Report who from chill New Hampshire, perhaps mere hours before Bush's victory, reported that the Vice President "now seems headed for a college presidency—or to the chairmanship of the Purolator Corp., a job that has been more or less kept open for Bush in the event of his (involuntary) retirement from politics...
...Newsweek spoke of Bush "fighting for his very survival" after having been "eclipsed by Sen...
...That is why they will continue to count him out...
...When, after World War I, the wily French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand hoped to drag America into the affairs of perfidious Europe, he exploited American innocence by asking that we sign a treaty with France outlawing war...
...Let's face it, we have become unreliable friends...
...Take my word for it...
...Moreover, it will drag us there under the most perilous circumstances, which is to say that after our imbecilic diplomacy has weakened Israel sufficiently we shall have to commit our forces to defend our interests...
...I say we give them Jordan...
...The economy is strong...
...Convene a conference, inviting the multitudes...
...his name was Ronald Reagan...
...My personal favorite among all the pundits' death notices was that of Michael Kramer, chief political correspondent of US...
...It cooperates with our Navy and Air Force...
...On the 1 CBS Evening News an adamantine Dan Rather spoke of Bush's "humiliation," in Iowa, which left him "an embarrassing and fading third...
...Israel weighs forever against radical Arab influence but also Soviet influence...
...So now Bush has swept far ahead of all corners...
...It is a cauldron of hatreds where anti-Western radicals will remain a threat for years to come...
...Without Israel's military presence the Soviets' Black Sea fleet and Indian Ocean fleet could in time of conflict combine rapidly through a vulnerable Suez Canal...
...Well, those of us who harbor an intense interest in the great game of politics have been notified of the Vice President's moribund condition off and on for some years, but think of where you were during the most recent reports...
...If Israel were gone tomorrow, Middle Eastern violence would continue...
...Yet three nights before my illuminating encounter in San Juan Bush did poorly in the Iowa caucuses, and now Adapted from RET's weekly Washington Post column syndicated by King Features...
...It shares intelligence with us...
...Bushhas demonstrated an ability not only to survive but also to debate effectively against competent opponents, almost any of whom might make a race of it against any present Democratic contender...
...Our diplomats hope Israel will trust us to guarantee its protection as did South Vietnam, the Shah's Iran, and now the contras...
...Haifa, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv would be within rifle or shell range of furious revanchists sworn to eliminate the Jewish state...
...No one will stop him in his quest of the Republican nomination, and the fractious Democratic party faces its most chaotic convention in decades...
...Think of his superb staff, the obvious support of the Administration, that $20 million in his campaign treasury...
...In early February I received the sepulchral news at Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan where I chanced upon a Democratic political adviser of legendary wit and astuteness...
...Mary McGrory spoke of Bush's "crucifixion...
...The consequence was chaos, and the treaty for "the outlawry of war" never boundanyone to do anything other than snicker...
...It was originally foreseen as their home in 1922 and should be again...
...If Israel gives up the West Bank those who now throw stones will be able to throw even more lethal missiles into Israel's main cities, its military camps, its mobilization centers...
...He is a gentleman and he was only reiterating what all the Washington insiders were pronouncing...
...Yet the death notices will not end...
...The President's polls showed him taking everything from Reagan but conservative Republicans...
...It is George Bush's luck to be constantly underestimated by the pundits...
...Some analysts believe invasion from radical Arab armies will be inevitable, and Israel will be either destroyed or rendered incapable of its present strategic support of Western interests...
...Unlike other Middle Eastern govern10 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR MAY 1988 ments, it is pro-Western across its political spectrum...
...T he media knew no better...
...and that authoritative political pundit, Richard Reeves, reported that President Carter had just "lost his favorite Republican opponent...
...It has knocked out a nuclear reactor whose eventual output of nuclear weaponry might have led to World War III...
...For centuries this crossroads has been precarious, but Israel contributes to what security there is...
...Emphasis added...
...Fears of a recession are evaporating...
...He's dead," reported this distinguished pundit...
...A CONFERENCE FOR CHAOS In the art and practice of diplomacy there is one sure way to bring matters to confusion and to mischief...
...Recognizing a trap that would make us the virtual defender of French security, Secretary of State Frank Kellogg said: Sure, and bring all peace-loving nations into the treaty...
...The insiders now murmur that Bush cannot win in the fall, and that the Democrats much prefer him over Senator Dole as their opponent...
...My San Juan confidant waved all this away, offering to bet me legal tender that Bush was through...
...Well, "eclipsed" for how long and "credible" to whom...
...Bob Dole and the suddenly credible Pat Robertson...
...Then where will the United States be...
...Old hands in our State Department must know this...
...Bereft of the security afforded by the West bank, Israel will be sorely weakened...
...How was it possible that in a matter of a week 108,477 Iowa Republicans in caucus assembled could bring Bush to ruin...
...In the same sorry state that it is now finding itself after jettisoning the contras, and that is to say our arms will be needed where others once did our work...
...It will drag us into an area where American interests are already being secured by others, mainly the Israelis...
...Think of all the states Bush led, particularly those Southern states...
...He went on to inform me that a shocking report of a telephone call from the Vice President to Panama's General Manuel Antonio Noriega just before our invasion of Grenada had sealed Bush's fate—all Washington was in full throat against him...
...Before my departure, however, Bush was heading towards the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary with a vast sum of money and a huge and efficient campaign staff...
...he seemed to be slipping in New Hampshire...
...Its strength keeps the moderate regimes of Jordan and Saudi Arabia free from such brutal regimes as Syria and Iraq...
...One other pol has suffered the same low esteem from the insiders, the aforementioned Ronald Reagan...
...Nevertheless we ask Israel to trust us as we convene a conference between Israel and nations that refuse to recognize its nationhood and that in most cases are sworn to destroy it...
...No other Middle Eastern government is so reliable or stable...
...Now Israel is our stable friend...
Vol. 21 • May 1988 • No. 5
