The Tempting of the President
EDITORIAL The Tempting of the President The United Nations is a temptation that's easy to resist. It won't enforce its own resolutions. Libya, a police state, chairs its human rights commission....
...But he should at least let the world know that lining up with France against the United States will have adverse consequences...
...The United States has allowed France to exert influence that far exceeds its economic or military strength...
...This may be the hardest temptation for Bush to resist...
...If five years from now Iran is a nuclear power, Syria is still harboring terrorists, and Saudi Arabia is exporting violent Wahhabism, the opportunity to have made the Iraq war a world-changing event will have been missed...
...Be magnanimous...
...One source of this power, France's U.N...
...The charge of imperialism is frivolous, as is the claim the United States fought a war for oil...
...in administering postwar Iraq, President Bush had no trouble saying no...
...The president will be under enormous pressure from Europeans, Middle East leaders, and top advisers in Washington to withdraw American troops and civilian officials from Iraq within months, not years...
...From the moment the war ends, Bush (and Blair, too) will be confronted with a drumbeat to withdraw...
...He'll be inclined to aid Blair, his friend and staunch ally, who wants to assuage the Labour party left by forging ahead with the "road map" for a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians...
...Leave Iraq...
...Blair has called for "even-handedness" in the Middle East, but we know what that means: pressure Israel...
...But it will take boldness to dash French power in another arena, the G8 summit of industrialized democracies...
...It's the psychological leverage that shouldn't go to waste...
...The success of the Bush presidency is conditioned, in part, on success in creating a reasonably stable democracy in Iraq and in using leverage gained from military victory to curb WMDs and terrorism...
...Take a breather...
...Bush should declare Iraq merely the beginning of a full-throttle assault on terrorism and weapons of mass destruction...
...In fact, he's now blocking the prime minister's naming of a cabinet...
...No, further countries don't have to be singled out for invasion...
...Then, he must deal with the apostasy of France...
...as a vehicle for American foreign policy...
...So when British prime minister Tony Blair, at the Belfast summit last week, pressed for a major role for the U.N...
...It's a cliche to say the stakes are high in postwar Iraq, but it's true...
...Fred Barnes, for the Editors...
...yen (Japan), pound (Great Britain), and euro (Germany), plus Italy and nations with rising economies (India, China, Russia...
...With Arafat, there is no chance of peace, which is why Bush last June demanded he step aside...
...But there are other temptations Bush will soon face in the aftermath of the Iraq war that won't be so easy to brush aside...
...American forces won't need to stay that long, but it will take at least a year, maybe two or more, to restore order, foster a viable economy, and establish democratic institutions with roots deep enough to survive...
...What's needed is a new organization that includes representatives of the dollar (U.S...
...They will be dangled in front of the president by friends and allies, and they will be alluringly presented as steps he should take to win popularity for America, to repair damaged alliances, and to win respect—and perhaps a Nobel Peace Prize—for himself...
...The president's postwar impulse will be to act generously toward critics and foes, rather than seek revenge...
...Despite the appointment of a Palestinian prime minister, Yasser Arafat retains his hold on power...
...But magnanimity should have its limits...
...The military occupation of Japan after World War II lasted seven years, and Japan is homogenous, not divided as Iraq is among three often hostile ethnic groups...
...Meanwhile, the Pentagon, both military brass and civilians, will have its own reasons for getting out of Iraq: American forces are needed elsewhere in the world, and besides, our soldiers are warriors, not policemen...
...It provides an arena where France, with its unearned Security Council veto, has enough leverage to pursue a campaign to restrain the power—and good works—of the United States...
...Winking at President Jacques Chirac's bid to organize a French-led, international counterweight to American power would be a mistake...
...The president may balk at going this far, and indeed it would look vengeful...
...He shouldn't...
...The United States has gone to great lengths to free Iraq, and the temptation will be to breathe a sigh of relief and ignore opportunities to use the influence gained from the triumph...
...Both before and during the war, Bush showed great courage in resisting temptations to prolong arms inspections, to placate the coalition of the unwilling, to appease world opinion, to delay the war, and on and on...
...However, the State Department will no doubt treat it seriously and lobby for a quick exit to improve America's image and win friends...
...The following are four among many temptations that Bush must resist...
...The G8 is antiquated...
...The Pentagon argument is a strong one, but the answer is to increase the force structure, not to pull out of Iraq precipitously...
...Great courage will be required once again, this time to resist the softer temptations of the postwar world...
...Neither France nor Canada has an economy that warrants membership...
...Blair should be rewarded for his brave support for the war, but not this way...
...Lean on Israel...
...But not only is the road map flawed, the time is not ripe for reaching agreement...
...The argument will be that America must show it's not bent on erecting a worldwide empire or creating a puppet state...
...First, Bush should take whatever political or economic actions are appropriate to reward allies such as Australia, Spain, Italy, Poland, and dozens of others...
...veto, will be curtailed quite naturally as Bush turns away from the U.N...
...It will be months, if ever, before Arafat is eased out, and attempting to implement the road map immediately could delay that process...
Vol. 8 • April 2003 • No. 31
