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Whose War Is this
The American Cause | 9-27-01 | Pat Buchanan

Posted on 09/27/2001 9:09:59 AM PDT by ex-snook

Whose War Is This? By Patrick J. Buchanan

In his resolve to hunt down and kill the Osama bin Laden terrorists he says committed the Sept. 11 massacres, President Bush has behind him a nation more unified than it has been since Pearl Harbor. But now Bush has been put on notice that this war cannot end with the head of bin Laden and the overthrow of the Taliban.

The shot across Bush's bow came in an "Open Letter" co-signed by 41 foreign-policy scholars, including William Bennett, Jeane Kirkpatrick, the publisher of The Weekly Standard and the editor in chief of The New Republic — essentially, the entire neoconservative establishment.

What must Bush do to retain their support? Target Hezbollah for destruction and retaliate against Syria and Iran if they refuse to cut all ties to Hezbollah and move militarily to overthrow Iraq's Saddam Hussein. Failure to attack Iraq, the neocons warn Bush, "will consti tute an early and perhaps decisive surrender in the war on international terrorism."

"Our purpose in writing is to assure you of our support as you do what must be done to lead the nation to victory in this fight," the letter ends.

Implied is a threat to end support if Bush does not widen the war to include all of Israel's enemies, or if he pursues the U.S.-Arab-Muslim coalition of Secretary of State Colin Powell. Among the signers is Richard Perle, chairman of Bush's own Defense Policy Board, a key advisory group.

This letter represents one side of a brutal policy battle that has erupted in the capital: Is it to be Powell's war or Perle's war?

A critical decision

The final decision Bush makes will be as historically crucial as Truman's decision to let MacArthur advance to the Yalu, and FDR's decision to hold up Eisenhower's armies and let Stalin take Berlin.

How the president will come down is unknown.

In his address to Congress a week ago, Bush declared: "From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime." The president seemed to be offering amnesty, or conditional absolution, to rogue states if they enlist in America's war, now, and expel all terrorist cells.

Even Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is signaling that what matters is not where nations stood, but where they stand. On Sunday, he said on CBS: "What we are looking at today is how are these states going to behave going forward."

And Powell's coalition is coming together. Whether out of fear or opportunism, Libya, Syria, Iran and the Palestinian Authority have all denounced the atrocities of Sept. 11. Pakistan has joined the coalition. Sudan is cooperating.

But calls for a wider war dominate the neoconservative media. The Weekly Standard's opinion editor, David Tell, wants war not only on past sponsors of terror, but also on "any group or government inclined to support or sustain others like them in the future."

Bennett wants Congress to declare war on "militant Islam" and "overwhelming force" used on state sponsors of terror such as Lebanon, Libya, Syria, Iraq, Iran and even China. The Wall Street Journal wants strikes "aimed at terrorist camps in Syria, Sudan, Libya and Algeria, and perhaps even in parts of Egypt."

On their lists

Terrorism expert Steve Emerson puts Lebanon's Bekaa Valley at the top of his list. Benjamin Netanyahu includes in the "Empire of Terror" to be obliterated: Hamas, Hezbollah, "the Palestinian enclave," as well as Iran, Iraq and Taliban Afghanistan. Tom Donnelly and Gary Schmitt of the Project for the New American Century want Iraq invaded now: "Nor need the attack await the deployment of half a million troops. ... The larger challenge will be occupying Iraq after the fighting is over."

As of now, Bush is laser-focused on bin Laden and the Taliban. But when that war is over, the great policy battle will be decided: Do we then dynamite Powell's U.S.-Arab-Muslim coalition by using U.S. power to invade Iraq? Do we then reverse alliances and make Israel's war America's war?

Allies would be at risk

If the United States invades Iraq, bombs Hezbollah and conducts strikes on Syria and Iran, this war will metastasize into a two-continent war from Algeria to Afghanistan, with the United States and Israel alone against a half-dozen Arab and Muslim states. The first casualties would be the moderate Arabs — Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states — who were our Cold War and Gulf War allies.

The war Netanyahu and the neo cons want, with the United States and Israel fighting all of the radical Islamic states, is the war bin Laden wants, the war his murderers hoped to ignite when they sent those airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

If America wishes truly to be isolated, it will follow the neoconservative line. Conservatives should stand squarely with President Bush — and Gen. Powell.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
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Buchanan supports President Bush. Will Buchanan be bashed again?
1 posted on 09/27/2001 9:09:59 AM PDT by ex-snook
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To: ex-snook
Will Buchanan be bashed again?

Oh, poor, poor Pat! I would feel so bad if he were bashed! The country needs him so!

/sarcasm

2 posted on 09/27/2001 9:12:14 AM PDT by Silly
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To: ex-snook
Buchanan supports POWELL

PUKE!

3 posted on 09/27/2001 9:13:47 AM PDT by TheOtherOne
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Comment #4 Removed by Moderator

To: ex-snook
He tells it as it is. Hate mongers will bash him and that doesn't deter him...
5 posted on 09/27/2001 9:16:12 AM PDT by The_Republican
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To: ex-snook
Conservatives should stand squarely with President Bush — and Gen. Powell.

One wonders what Buchannan will do if Bush and Powell decide to end the terrorism against Israel as well.

6 posted on 09/27/2001 9:18:02 AM PDT by TheDon
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To: ex-snook
The problem with Buchannan's assessment is that he doesn't seem to understand that Bin Laden is more of a secondary player in terrorism. The root of all the planning is Iran's revolutionary government supported by Iraq. THEY have set up all these seemingly disconnected terrorist groups (Hamas, Hezballal, Bin Laden, etc.) all around the world to distract and drain away the United States energy and money. It's the same tactic the Soviet used with all their liberation movements. If we confine our "war" to ony Bin Laden, we will be making a serious mistake.
7 posted on 09/27/2001 9:24:41 AM PDT by wjeanw
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To: The_Republican (America'a interest first)
He tells it as it is. Hate mongers will bash him and that doesn't deter him... "

Pat considers America's best interest as paramount.

8 posted on 09/27/2001 9:26:54 AM PDT by ex-snook
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To: wjeanw (we should not be in a long 'rope a dope'.
The problem with your assessment is we have a pared down intelligence and just determined that our economy can only support a 'one-war' effort. The USA does not need a long drawn-out war effort that would deplete our resources, threaten our economy and hold a draft over our youth. With Russia and China standing in the wings, we don't need to be the victim of some long 'rope-a-dope'. I don't trust the Commie duo.
9 posted on 09/27/2001 9:39:24 AM PDT by ex-snook
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To: Agrarian Mercuria diotima sheltonmac Either/Or Askel5 mrustow UnBlinkingEye, Campion Moore Boru,
This article orginally appeared in the September 27th issue of USA Today.
10 posted on 09/27/2001 9:42:01 AM PDT by ouroboros
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To: Eskimo Zviadist independentmind susangirl Twodees x CubicleGuy SamAdams76 MK Mark17 DoughtyOne junta

11 posted on 09/27/2001 9:42:49 AM PDT by ouroboros
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To: A.J.Armitage, stand watie Un-PC The_Expatriate Carol-HuTex MissAmericanPie arimus bigunreal abigail2

12 posted on 09/27/2001 9:43:18 AM PDT by ouroboros
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To: cva66snipe, nunya bidness, Travis McGee, BurkeCalhounDabney KantianBurke arcane philman_36 Cato

13 posted on 09/27/2001 9:43:49 AM PDT by ouroboros
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To: LaBelleDameSansMerci Scholastic Rebeckie firebrand Malachi A2J Derville Fiddlstix brat AnnaZ kaylar

14 posted on 09/27/2001 9:44:16 AM PDT by ouroboros
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To: feinswinesuksass The_Eaglet wideawake, William Terrell, martinchemnitz TheWriter RLK jack gillis

15 posted on 09/27/2001 9:45:46 AM PDT by ouroboros
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To: Romulus Jefferson Adams constitutiongirl Restorer HalfIrish madrussian annalex mafree Dumb_Ox Pelham

16 posted on 09/27/2001 9:47:18 AM PDT by ouroboros
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To: bulldog905 BluesDuke eniapmot Inspector Harry Callahan, jordan8 Constitutionalist Conservative

17 posted on 09/27/2001 9:47:55 AM PDT by ouroboros
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To: ouroboros
Thank O for the info. I guess it is time for the real Bush supporters to stand up. The full court press is on for the heart and mind of President Bush.
18 posted on 09/27/2001 9:48:13 AM PDT by ex-snook
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To: tex-oma Senator Pardek headsonpikes incindiary laurav t-shirt oyez Anochka, Burkeman1 sarcasm evilc

19 posted on 09/27/2001 9:48:35 AM PDT by ouroboros
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To: Bella_Bru B4RANCH, xm177e2 Valin sendtoscott Luke ServesURight Diago medusa GKBelloc Willie Green

20 posted on 09/27/2001 9:49:11 AM PDT by ouroboros
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