Useful Fools

The sound of gnashing of teeth and stamping of feet comes too frequently from many of my fellow hawks. The complaint is either that Bush has allowed himself to be trapped by the U.N., or that we should have already invaded Iraq, or… well… somehow BUSH JUST ISN’T DOING ENOUGH.

Read on…

These folks are missing the subtleties of the Bush administration’s tactics. Unlike Clinton, the Bushies don’t feel the need for constant approval as they go about their serious business. Rather, they are following Teddy Roosevelt’s dictum and not saying much while wielding a big club.

After 9-11, we all wanted instant action. Nothing happened, and it was frustrating. That November, Osama was still in his house in Kandahar, celebrating the slaughter. But all was not as quiet as it seemed. CIA paramilitary teams were already in country, setting up the war. When we finally did strike, the Taliban and Al Quaeda were caught by surprise. They were hit with more force than they could even imagine, and were slaughtered in large numbers, leaving behind lots of prisoners and intelligence. Bush waited - until he could do it right (ignoring the little oops of the battle of Tora Bora).

While Yasser Arafat’s minions were slaughtering innocent Israeli’s, the US appeared to be making ineffective conciliatory noises. But instead of inviting Yasser to the White House as his predecessor had done, Bush, with one speech, relegated Arafat to the dustbin of history. Do you remember how Arafat was always in the news? Now, nobody cares or reports what he says.

Then there was the UN fecklessness on Iraq. Unlike any other US president, one day George Bush laid down the law to the UN: behave or be irrelevant. Of course, only one whack from the clue stick was not enough for the UN, and the blathering continued… as did the complaints from my fellow Hawks. Yesterday Colin Powell pulled out a great big clue club and whacked ‘em again. What was important was not the evidence he presented, since everyone knew the Iraqi’s were cheating - rather, he once again threatened the UN with irrelevance.

I keep hearing complaints that we are waiting too long to start the war… with the implication that Bush is allowing diplomatic wrangling to slow down our plans. But by his own statements Bush already considers the UN to be irrelevant if they don’t get in line, which really means that they are just a side-show. Bush is going to do what he is going to do when it is the right time to do it.

The delay in the war is caused by something very simple: we want to be as ready as possible. Not only do we want massive force available in the region, but we also need the best defenses possible against the terrorism that will be triggered by our attack. So we are rounding up terrorists, vaccinating people against smallpox, running a manhattan-project like project against biological war, setting up our homeland security logistics and procedures, and in general, hardening ourselves to the small extent possible.

Saddam does not present an immediate danger. We don’t have to take him out right this minute (as we may North Korea if they get much further down the road… but I digress). What we cannot do is to let the Iraqi situation linger too long, because a critical reason to attack Iraq is to send a message, and that message needs to be sent soon.

But of course Bush and his advisors know this, and will act accordingly.