A War About Values
The head of the Center for Liberal Studies in Bulgaria, Ivan Krustev, told a reporter for the London telegraph, "We understand that this is a war about values, whereas for France and Germany it is about commercial interest." This followed Chirac's emotional outburst at Eastern European countries that support the US. Certainly the driving force behind the French and German opposition to the use of force against Iraq has been the subject of much speculation, including their commercial interest. Some have focused on the French desire for a "counter weight" to US power i.e. the French desire to position the European Union with France and Germany at it head as a force to restrain the use of force by the US. It has also been argued that these countries are afraid their complicity with Saddam in making the banned weapons will be discovered. Some have argued that the US is interested in getting Iraqi oil or business for US companies. Mr. Krustev gets it right on the US and British motivation, It is about values, and that is why it has attracted a coalition of recently freed states who understand the value of freedom and democracy. Without these values, the desire to rid Saddam of his weapons of mass destruction and keep them out of the hands of terrorist would not attract the support of the current 35 countries that have joined the US coalition.
UNilateralist Again
Howard Dean is the latest Dem to abuse the language and attempt the politics of fraud by calling the US use of a coalition of 35 countries that are moving against Saddam a UNilateral action. If this guy wants to be taken serious as a presidential candidate, he should at least be smart enough to recognize that a coalition of 35 + countries cannot be considered a unilateral actor. Language abuse seems to be the stock and trade of the anti war demogoges. All it takes is a look at the protest signs to see that many of these people are from an alternate universe that is not associated with the real world.
Why the Anti War Protest Will Hurt the Democrat More Than Republicans
One of the reasons the anti war protest had some effect during the Vietnam war is that it was made up of a significant portion of the Democrat's base while the Dems had complete control of Congress and for a portion of the war, the presidency. They have neither now and certainly the Republicans have no interest in pandering to the loopy left's ideas. There is at best a constituency of about 30% of the country that may be persuaded by these people. Democrats who have to run for the Presidency know they have to persuade the majority of the people in this country that they can be trusted on national security. At this point, that cannot be done opposing a war against Iraq. If Howard Dean wants to run against the war and against installing a missle defense to guard the West Coast against North Koreans Missles it will be hard to wipe the smile off of Karl Rove's face. The anti war Dems can win in the liberal enclaves around universities and San Francisco but that is not a national strategy for anything other than defeat.
Even those Dems who support a war to remove Saddam make the mistake of blaming the Bush administration for the bad conduct of France and Germany. If they want to take the side of the French that is a mistake. For Senator Lieberman to say that the US withdrawel from Kyoto justifies the French and German conduct defies logic since he was never prepared to ratify the treaty to begin with, nor was any other senator. He thinks the Euros are also upset about the US rejection of the International Criminal Court. You can tell how effective that body is going to be when Chirac invites a mass murder like Mugabe to France for a conference that has nothing to do with putting him on trial. For that matter where is the ICC indictment of Saddam who is responsible for over one million deaths? We do have the spectacle of a court in Begium indicting the Isreali Prime Minister for the actions of some Lebanese soldiers not under his direct control. If that is the Euro mindset on international criminal law, it just shows the wisdom of the Bush administration rejection of a flawed treaty. Lieberman has joined the blame American first crowd and has thereby lost credibility.
The head of the Center for Liberal Studies in Bulgaria, Ivan Krustev, told a reporter for the London telegraph, "We understand that this is a war about values, whereas for France and Germany it is about commercial interest." This followed Chirac's emotional outburst at Eastern European countries that support the US. Certainly the driving force behind the French and German opposition to the use of force against Iraq has been the subject of much speculation, including their commercial interest. Some have focused on the French desire for a "counter weight" to US power i.e. the French desire to position the European Union with France and Germany at it head as a force to restrain the use of force by the US. It has also been argued that these countries are afraid their complicity with Saddam in making the banned weapons will be discovered. Some have argued that the US is interested in getting Iraqi oil or business for US companies. Mr. Krustev gets it right on the US and British motivation, It is about values, and that is why it has attracted a coalition of recently freed states who understand the value of freedom and democracy. Without these values, the desire to rid Saddam of his weapons of mass destruction and keep them out of the hands of terrorist would not attract the support of the current 35 countries that have joined the US coalition.
UNilateralist Again
Howard Dean is the latest Dem to abuse the language and attempt the politics of fraud by calling the US use of a coalition of 35 countries that are moving against Saddam a UNilateral action. If this guy wants to be taken serious as a presidential candidate, he should at least be smart enough to recognize that a coalition of 35 + countries cannot be considered a unilateral actor. Language abuse seems to be the stock and trade of the anti war demogoges. All it takes is a look at the protest signs to see that many of these people are from an alternate universe that is not associated with the real world.
Why the Anti War Protest Will Hurt the Democrat More Than Republicans
One of the reasons the anti war protest had some effect during the Vietnam war is that it was made up of a significant portion of the Democrat's base while the Dems had complete control of Congress and for a portion of the war, the presidency. They have neither now and certainly the Republicans have no interest in pandering to the loopy left's ideas. There is at best a constituency of about 30% of the country that may be persuaded by these people. Democrats who have to run for the Presidency know they have to persuade the majority of the people in this country that they can be trusted on national security. At this point, that cannot be done opposing a war against Iraq. If Howard Dean wants to run against the war and against installing a missle defense to guard the West Coast against North Koreans Missles it will be hard to wipe the smile off of Karl Rove's face. The anti war Dems can win in the liberal enclaves around universities and San Francisco but that is not a national strategy for anything other than defeat.
Even those Dems who support a war to remove Saddam make the mistake of blaming the Bush administration for the bad conduct of France and Germany. If they want to take the side of the French that is a mistake. For Senator Lieberman to say that the US withdrawel from Kyoto justifies the French and German conduct defies logic since he was never prepared to ratify the treaty to begin with, nor was any other senator. He thinks the Euros are also upset about the US rejection of the International Criminal Court. You can tell how effective that body is going to be when Chirac invites a mass murder like Mugabe to France for a conference that has nothing to do with putting him on trial. For that matter where is the ICC indictment of Saddam who is responsible for over one million deaths? We do have the spectacle of a court in Begium indicting the Isreali Prime Minister for the actions of some Lebanese soldiers not under his direct control. If that is the Euro mindset on international criminal law, it just shows the wisdom of the Bush administration rejection of a flawed treaty. Lieberman has joined the blame American first crowd and has thereby lost credibility.
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