Correspondence
Correspondence THE U.N. TRAP WHILE I READ with considerable interest "The U.N. Trap?" (Nov. 18), I couldn't help but think that William Kristol and Robert Kagan ignore at least one logical...
...William Kristol and Robert Kagan argue persuasively that the United states has effectively surrendered the right to make war on its enemies to the United Nations in general, and to the U.N...
...Two facts of overriding importance contributed to the formation of the coalition that defeated Hitler...
...Why are Israel's friends here so silent over such an obviously dangerous delusion as Oslo warmed over...
...Henary's assertion does reinforce one of Chavez's themes, however...
...resolutions...
...I suspect it is in the nature of our democracy itself...
...In "The U.N...
...Here is another seemliness-related reason for the Democrats' defeat...
...18) that "affirmative action no doubt landed [Chavez] at a plum graduate school...
...There are few conservatives who have found the courage to be critical of their president's "success...
...Perhaps our commander in chief holds a trump card in his hand that he has not revealed: hard, photographic evidence of Saddam's nuclear capability...
...The assumption used to bait this trap was the proposition that in war, the United states is better served by forming a coalition than going it alone...
...A variety of Democratic congressmen and senators appeared on television with veiled or not-so-veiled criticisms of George W. Bush...
...Although we know that individuals in the State Department have been supportive of the Iraqi opposition groups who have also sought our counsel, the Center has not received advice or support from the State Department or any other agency of the U.S...
...Today, the United States is so vastly superior to Iraq, that there is no military reason to form an alliance with anyone to defeat Saddam...
...FLORENCE SCHMIEG Newark, DE IN BLACK AND WHITE BETH HENARY ALLEGES in her brief review of Linda Chavez's book An Unlikely Conservative (THE STANDARD READER, Nov...
...But the truth of that assertion is in fact quite doubtful, since Chavez had top GRE scores and undergraduate grades, as the book made evident...
...ABIGAIL THERNSTROM Cambridge, MA SUPPORT FROM STATE...
...The last great coalition war was World War II...
...11), Eli J. Lake writes that the State Department had "played an advisory role" in my activities on behalf of the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict...
...MARK ANKCORN Manhattan Beach, CA THANKS FOR THE COGENT EDITORIAL "The U.N...
...Faced with numerous competing goals, Bush can offer no single comprehensive strategy, nor any criteria for what constitutes a victory in the war on terror, or in Iraq, let alone build the nation's resolve...
...The reason this coalition was successful was that it was formed out of dire military necessity...
...In 1941, the Continental powers begged us to give them aid...
...At some point in the next few months, either at a Blix blocking point or when a final, less-than-decisive report has been authored which recommends (as Kristol and Kagan foresee) further inspections, the United States goes to the Security Council and presents the trump card...
...Presidents are elected by being loved...
...I do not doubt Bush's desire to win, but he has other goals as well, along with external constraints, that preclude the application of an overall governing principle...
...Their teachers and peers at the time—and, down the road, those who review their books—will too often assume they could not have succeeded academically without racial double-standards...
...government...
...First, no one of these three powers was strong enough to defeat the Third Reich alone, or in coalition with any other single nation...
...and phony alliances...
...Bush has engaged in a litany of sacrificial compromises, both in the Middle East and at home...
...BERTRAM KORN Elkins Park, PA NO MORE UNSEEMLINESS NOEMIE EMERY hits the nail on the head with "The Seemliness Issue" (Nov...
...18), I couldn't help but think that William Kristol and Robert Kagan ignore at least one logical possibility in our ongoing card game with Iraq...
...Why then does the Bush administration set so much store by the U.N...
...But when Enron erupted, the Democrats and their cohorts in the media jumped gleefully on the opportunity to try to throw mud at the president, to my utter dismay...
...We were still bombing in Afghanistan, after all...
...Can this danger also be circumvented by Bush's political willpower, and Sharon's...
...While it might be more convenient to have allies in the region (for bases, etc...
...Second, the reverse was not true—Hitler had the strength to defeat the two continental powers, if not simultaneously, then in seriatim, and, he obviously intended to do so at the earliest opportunity...
...The three principal members were the United States, the United Kingdom, and the USSR, appropriately called "The Big Three...
...One truly hopes, though, that the Bush foreign affairs team has more talent and backbone than it has recently demonstrated...
...The same forces Kristol and Kagan brilliantly detail to be at play in diluting the Bush effort against Saddam have set up this Palestinian trap...
...Kagan and Kristol's case for optimism, which rests on faith in President Bush's determination, may be misguided...
...It is so big, so obvious that it often goes unremarked upon, but was clearly a decisive factor in the 2002 election...
...Kagan and Kristol have mentioned the compromises involved, such as abandoning regime change, entering the inspections quagmire, delaying action, and ceding control to other parties...
...Non-Asian minority students, whatever their real qualifications, are inevitably tainted by affirmative action programs...
...PETER ACKERMAN Chair, International Center on Nonviolent Conflict Washington, DC...
...He does not say that the defense of America and its citizens is the quintessential obligation of our government, or that this should overshadow all other considerations, and necessitate that we employ whatever means are necessary for victory in Iraq...
...representative will show the world the irrefutable photographic evidence of continuing treachery and mendacity and make clear that the only remaining option is war...
...This president seems to be having trouble with the role change...
...Moreover, there is now the possibility that the inspectors can be turned into hostages...
...by Robert Kagan and William Kristol...
...IN HIS OTHERWISE EXCELLENT "Do-It- Yourself Regime Change" (Nov...
...ALLEN WEINGARTEN Morristown, NJ NAPOLEON BONAPARTE ONCE SAID, "If you start to take Vienna—take Vienna...
...However, around mid-December when Congress left for Christmas break, there was a profound change...
...for a resolution and further explains why he has seemed to cave on the current, unanimous resolution...
...Their continued national existence depended on obtaining our help...
...Setting up an inspection regime would therefore only be bait to get Saddam to declare some, though certainly not all, of his weapons of mass destruction...
...If Hitler was to be defeated, it would take the combined strength of all three nations...
...They might have added that, in the event of failure, Bush can no longer employ the previous arguments for war, such as Iraq's violation of the ceasefire agreements, or of previous U.N...
...Just like forty years ago, our U.N...
...Once occupying the chair, the president finds that to win a war, he must be feared...
...Perhaps this is why Bush failed to present any real new evidence in September when he asked the U.N...
...security council in particular, and in so doing have entered a dangerous trap from which it will be difficult to extract ourselves...
...In the immediate response to 9/11 the Democrats rallied around the president, as they should have...
...This proposition is demonstrably false, for the United states is the world's only hyperpower and, moreover, the proposition is inherently dangerous to us, insofar as it prevents us from acting in our own self-defense as defined by us...
...He would be wise to listen to the advice of Bonaparte, and reject that of Chirac...
...It seemed obvious to me what was going on: Bring down Bush's favorabil-ity ratings to boost Democrats' chances in the coming elections, and damn the best interests of the United States in the process...
...But then again, what do I know...
...Years of effort are involved in shaping the personality to get elected...
...As a rabbi in Southern California, my only connection to the intelligence community is a stack of Tom Clancy novels and an overactive imagination...
...American military power and its ability to project that power are sufficient to prevail alone and unaided...
...JAMES H. FINK Lincoln, MA WILLIAM KRISTOL and Robert Kagan's analysis of the American "victory" in the Security Council is excellent...
...I agree...
...But a critique along similar lines is urgently needed of Bush's advocacy of, and Sharon's acquiescence in, a "provisional Palestinian state...
...Until Bush presents a single, solid principle for standing up to our enemies, we might well remain mired in counterproductive negotiations...
...I was disturbed...
Vol. 8 • December 2002 • No. 12
