*** From [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Tomasz Iwanowski) http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/PEstory/TGAM/20020921/COSIMP21/Columnists/columnists/columnistsNational_temp/1/6/14/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PRINT EDITION Washington's new (old) 'war party' By JEFFREY SIMPSON Saturday, September 21, 2002 - Page A19 The U.S. ambassador to Germany put the matter squarely: Germany's opposition to military action against Iraq "makes the job more difficult" for German-American relations. That's the discrete official position. William Safire, New York Times columnist, ardent conservative and friend of all right-wingers in Israel, warned Germany this week: Oppose military action and the U.S. might review its military commitment to Europe. Opposition to striking Iraq constitutes "anti-Americanism" that should not go unpunished. So, there you have it. Do not support a core U.S. policy and get set for charges of "anti-Americanism" and "more difficult relations." U.S. allies are on notice: Dissent will bring consequences. As George W. Bush put it in launching his "war" on terror: You're with us or against us. That was fine for terrorism. But now that philosophy has extended to Iraq, whose links with al-Qaeda are so unproved that even Mr. Bush doesn't hang his case on them. The philosophy will apparently extend further. In this unilateralist, muscular phase of U.S. foreign policy, where pre-emptive strikes against unfriendly regimes have become official operating doctrine, American allies had better prepare themselves for a "with us or against us" approach on all international security issues. Yesterday, the Bush administration released its national security strategy to Congress. The document describes a "distinctly American internationalism" based on uncontested military superiority, unilateralism instead of treaty-making, and striking pre-emptively against hostile regimes or those that sponsor terror. Those who believe Iraq is a special case in U.S. foreign policy should read the document to have their illusions shattered. The thinking behind this new U.S. policy used to be consigned to the right wing of the Reagan administration. It figured a little in the administration of Mr. Bush's father. What used to be a marginal doctrine has become the official one. On Iraq, the new thinking is partially driven by those who believe that the first Bush administration erred in not driving on to Baghdad during the Persian Gulf war. Those who espouse this doctrine are the "war party" in Washington. They include the Secretary of Defence, the Vice-President and many second-tier officials in the departments of Defence and State. They want "regime change" in Iraq, and that means a military invasion, later or sooner. They want, and will soon receive, a congressional resolution authorizing force against Iraq. For them, the United Nations is an obstacle to be overcome rather than an instrument to be used, apart from temporary camouflage. They do not believe in weapons inspection; indeed, they fear it, because if the UN inspectors are successful, it would weaken the case for war. Happily for them, Saddam Hussein is so misguided that he will impose conditions before or during the inspections that will provide the rationale for the "war party" to invade. "Regime change" is a new phrase for an old American idea of intervening in the affairs of other countries to change governments or defend existing ones. A partial list over the past century of such U.S. interventions, for good or ill, would include Cuba twice ("Remember the Maine" and the Bay of Pigs), the Philippines (Spanish-American War), Mexico (invasion), Nicaragua, El Salvador, Panama, Grenada, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Korea, Japan, Germany, Italy, Lebanon, Afghanistan and Vietnam. Most of these American interventions occurred when the country did not enjoy uncontested superpower status. That status, underpinned by American exceptionalism and millennialism, is now buttressed by a sense of post-Sept. 11 domestic vulnerability and post-Afghanistan military might. These factors, in turn, have encouraged the aggressive, unilateralist posture of the "war party." So dominant is the United States that, with the exception of Germany (whose government is fighting for re-election), countries that might otherwise oppose the Washington "war party" are either muting their criticism or co-operating. They fear future American unhappiness or are resigned to their own political weakness or military helplessness. Whatever doubts these countries harbour about the desire of the "war party" to attack Iraq are squelched. Britain signs up for combat. France is more co-operative than usual. Russia and Turkey are bought off. China remains silent. Canada does the minimum and ducks. Saudi Arabia makes supportive gestures. Australia offers help. Nobody dares mention in the debate about Iraq's biological and chemical weapons that the U.S. refused to approve or implement the 2001 UN protocol on developing, producing or stockpiling biological or toxin weapons; the land-mines treaty; the nuclear non-proliferation treay; the nuclear test-ban treaty. None of these can be squared with the new U.S. doctrine of military hegemony and unilateral military intervention in countries defined as hostile by the United States, the "distinctly American internationalism." The United States' real or imagined enemies are served notice by this new doctrine, the first test case of which will be Iraq. But Washington's friends, too, need to reconsider their traditional approaches to the U.S., because the new doctrine challenges many of their old assumptions about how to deal with that country. 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