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If I used my color highlighter or bold editorially as usual, almost this
whole piece would be bolded in color.
From the Deep South, reinforcing the theme that Bush2 is it’s own worst
enemy. - KWC Reality in Iraq requires help Jay Bookman, Atlanta Journal Constitution, 090403 This has been, from its very inception, a
faith-based war. It was an invasion founded on the haughty and irrational
belief that the United States could accomplish anything it chose, anywhere it
chose, needing no help from anyone.
The United Nations? Irrelevant wimps. Our French and German allies? We don't need "Old
Europe." We, the United States, held the power to shape
the world to our wishes. We could in a matter of months create democracy in a
land that for eons had been ruled only through brutal violence. We could defy
history by invading a foreign country and yet be welcomed as liberators. Merely
by a show of U.S. will, we could impose peace on Palestinians and Israelis. And on the seventh day we could rest, before
moving on to Syria, Iran and North Korea. While many of those most fervent in that faith
occupied powerful posts in the Bush administration, they remained relatively
few in number. Last September, polls then indicated a small majority in favor
of invasion with ground troops. (corrected 9/5/03) So one year ago this week, a well-scripted media blitz was
launched to scare Americans into changing their minds. With the country just
days from the first anniversary of Sept. 11, the campaign was timed perfectly,
and advocates of war played to our fears with shameless precision. "We do know, with
absolute certainty, that [Saddam Hussein] is using his procurement system to
acquire the equipment he needs in order to enrich uranium to build a nuclear
weapon," Vice President Dick Cheney claimed to NBC viewers on Sept. 8.
"We're to the point where time is not on our side." On Fox News that day, the theme was
echoed by Secretary of State Colin Powell. "I just know that time is not
on our side," he said. A few channels over on CBS, Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld added to the chorus, warning again that "time is not on
our side." National Security
Adviser Condi Rice, appearing on CNN that day, asked how long America dared to
wait. After all, she said, "we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom
cloud," a warning of imminent danger that President Bush himself would
repeat almost word for word in a televised speech to the nation a few weeks
later. As we've learned, the
claims of "absolute certainty" of a renewed Iraqi nuclear program
were false. So were the suggested links between Saddam and al-Qaida. Most
damaging of all, repeated claims that our postwar occupation of Iraq would go
smoothly have proved false on a spectacular scale. That was not, however,
a surprise. People may claim they can walk on water; they may even have faith
they can do so. But when they end up sinking, it's not a surprise. In this
case, experts in the field -- the true believers dismissed them as
"realists" -- predicted this would happen, and the realists were
right. So, now what do we do? This week, Bush
finally agreed to seek U.N. assistance in Iraq. Among other benefits, that
should silence those who argue that the media have cast a falsely harsh image
of how things are going. Only the prospect of true calamity could have driven
the president to swallow his pride in this way and publicly ask for help. Much depends now on two questions: How
real is the president's new humility, and how willing are other countries to
help? Bush is right to
insist on American leadership of any international force in Iraq. We're the
best in the world at that role; it makes sense that we handle it. But on matters such as reconstruction
and civil governance, we have room for a great deal of flexibility. We cannot
reasonably ask countries that we have recently treated with disdain to bail us
out with thousands of troops and billions of dollars, while denying them any
real control over how those resources would be used. Just a year ago, 64 percent
of Europeans still supported a strong U.S. presence in world affairs. Today,
according to a poll conducted by the German Marshall Fund, that number has
fallen to 45 percent. By our arrogance, we have squandered much of our
hard-earned support around the world.
In the next few weeks, we'll find out how high a price we'll have to pay
for that mistake. Jay Bookman is the deputy
editorial page editor. His column appears Thursdays and Mondays. |
