The Pelosi doctrine

Amir Taheri:

The region's most radical elements liked Pelosi best if only because she endorsed their campaign of vilification against the Bush administration. In effect, her motto was: Surrender before you have to, and claim credit for it. She represented a superpower that, because no one can take away anything from it, is prepared to give away everything.

The Pelosi Doctrine, as demonstrated during the tour, is the opposite of the Bush Doctrine spelled out in 2002.

The Bush Doctrine links America's national security to democratization in the Middle East. It asserts that undemocratic states serve as breeding grounds for terrorism the way that marshes breed mosquitoes. The United States should therefore throw its weight behind those forces and governments that promote reform in the region.

In practical terms, this means a number of things, such as 1) using force to remove regimes that lack internal mechanisms for change, as was the case with the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Saddamites in Iraq; and 2) persuading friendly regimes to broaden their popular base, liberalize their economies and open up the social and political space, as is the case in Egypt and Jordan, among others.

Elsewhere, the Bush Doctrine envisages robust opposition to the ambitions of such opportunist powers as Syria (in its quest to dominate Lebanon) and the Islamic Republic in Iran (in its pursuit of regional hegemony).

In the Bush Doctrine, the Israel-Palestine conflict is regarded as an almost peripheral problem, best tackled when the region is democratized, liberalized and woven into the global system.

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The Pelosi Doctrine, by contrast, is based on cynical realpolitik. It rejects the idea that the U.S. political system, or the culture in which it is rooted, is in any way better, let alone superior, to systems developed by others across the globe, including the Middle East.

Pelosi applies the tenets of multiculturalism to international affairs: All systems are comparable; all systems are of equal value. Other cultures might not be as good as hers - but hers sure can be as bad as theirs.

The Pelosi Doctrine opposes the use of force, even against aggressive anti-American regimes. Throughout her tour, the speaker made it clear that she was determined to hasten the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, with hints that the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan would also be "reviewed." Pelosi's America would fight back only in self-defense and rejects preemptive war. Under the Pelosi Doctrine, the United States must work with regimes in place, including those perceived as threats.

Pelosi also restores the status of the Israel-Palestine conflict as the ur-issue of the region, if not of international life as a whole, and seeks to resume Washington's role as mediator. She rejects what some Arabs see as President Bush's partiality toward Israel and urges a return to the evenhandedness that America demonstrated in the last years of the Clinton presidency.

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Pelosization could plunge the Middle East into endless civil and regional wars, facilitate the return of terrorist organizations now facing defeat and ultimate destruction, and, in time, threaten U.S. national security on a grander scale. That, in turn, could force the United States into wars bigger and costlier than the ones in Afghanistan and Iraq that Pelosi regards as mistakes.

Pelosi represents the fantasies of the left when it comes to foreign policy. There will never be peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis until the Palestinians have something to offer besides victimhood. At this point they cannot make a credible offer of peace, because they cannot deliver on such a commitment even if they made it. The reason their is not agreement between Israel and Syria is that Syria also is not willing to make a serious offer of anything of value to Israel. It is not willing to give up its support for terrorist organizations. Syria is not serious about peace in Lebanon or Iraq. It is a state sponsor of terror and it is not going to "flip" on that issue. The Pelosi willful ignorance on Syrian conduct and policy is apparent to all but the left wing fantasist.