BUILDING 'EMPIRE' SHOULDN'T BE THE GOAL

Building 'empire' shouldn't be goal As the United States pummels terrorist targets in Afghanistan, an internal political war wages among policy makers and opinion leaders in Washington. The central question: How far does the United States take its war once current attacks are done?

News reports suggest a rift between Secretary of State Colin Powell and administration undersecretaries, such as Paul Wolfowitz, who serves in the Defense Department. Leading neoconservative officials and writers want a broad war that targets Iraq's Saddam Hussein also.

This is the logical outcome of an ongoing Washington debate in the years following the end of the Cold War. Many Americans call for a return to a more constitutional foreign policy, in which the United States military is used mainly for defensive purposes. Others want the United States to become, in essence, the new world empire.

Now we can forget about the "in essence." In its Oct. 15 issue, The Weekly Standard -- an influential conservative political magazine edited by former Dan Quayle speechwriter Bill Kristol -- the cover story comes right out and makes "The Case for American Empire." The article was written by Max Boot, an opinion editor at The Wall Street Journal. In other words, this isn't coming from the fringe.

"The debate about whether Saddam Hussein was implicated in the Sept. 11 attacks misses the point," he wrote. "Who cares if Saddam was involved in this particular barbarity? He has been involved in so many barbarities over the years ... that he has already earned himself a death sentence a thousand times over." Boot wants to turn Iraq "into a beacon of hope," as part of strategy to create a democratic Middle East. "The Sept. 11 attack was a result of insufficient American involvement and ambition," he wrote. "U.S. imperialism -- a liberal and humanitarian imperialism, to be sure, but imperialism all the same -- appears to have paid off in the Balkans."

Saddam Hussein is indeed a nasty fellow. It would be wonderful for the Arab world to become free and democratic. There are dictators and thugs and suffering people across the entire globe. What the Weekly Standard crowd wants is for America to make everyone else's battle our battle, to use American treasure to rebuild foreign lands and create new, functioning governments -- regardless of any interest to the United States. America rose to the task in World War II, but do Americans want to make World War II sacrifices all the time?

Under the Clinton administration, in particular, the United States has embraced Imperialism Lite, imposing "peacekeepers" and "nation builders" in the Balkans, Somalia, Haiti and elsewhere -- with no noticeable signs of success. Americans haven't complained too loudly because a guiding principle has been to avoid the loss of American lives.

Full-blown empire -- or at least moves in that direction following the attacks on al-Qaida -- will simply spread American resources farther and wider, increase taxes on the American public, create new enemies in new countries many of us have never heard of and increase the likelihood that American troops will lose their lives in increasing numbers.

Beyond the loss of treasure and lives, a new American empire will require a vast loss of freedom within the United States. We're supportive of efforts to root out terrorist groups that launched the heinous attacks on American soil. That's a justifiable and defensive use of force. But during war, government expands its reach.

Empire is not consistent with a free and democratic society, even if those pursuing it believe this empire would be more humanitarian and decent than others have been. This view was embodied by America's first president, George Washington, during his 1796 Farewell Address:

"The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. ... Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice? It is our true policey to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world."

Those principles should help guide the Bush administration as it decides what to do next. DAILY NEWSMAIL! Get local news delivered to your mailbox everyday FREE! SEND THIS PAGE TO A FRIEND! CHAT LIVE WITH OTHER USERS DISCUSS THE LATEST ISSUES IN THE DAILY NEWS MESSAGE BOARDS

New times, it appears, require new behavior.
Justin, I like your articles, they are very good. I can't deny that. But think hard - how is Anthrax getting to this country? There is no way some homegrown genius could cultivate it at home, have an outside breathing capacity (you cannot breathe the same air where you are producing a biological weapon). No neighbors (or at least none we know about) are dying.
At this point, we already know we have a country behind this, with large resources. The country which could produce Anthrax in powder form, are the USA, Russia, Iraq, Iran, Libya and most of the European countries (according to biologists, this kind of adventure would cost around 400-600 million dollars).
We are facing the brutal question - what good would it do to talk, at this point in time, about democracy and freedom when somebody out there with lots of money and capability is trying to kill us? Instead of quarreling and doing small or big food fights, I believe we should get together, eliminate the enemy and then there we go again. We could discuss and bitch on or change every infrigement on our freedom.

I hate to change your notion that anthrax is hard to get but last night on FNC it was said that anthrax can be ordered through the mail by any scientist or researcher.
Unbelievable as it sounds that is true but that is not militarized anthrax which if this is found to be will THEN limit who could do this.

Anthrax, by itself, is pretty easy. You can walk around and find it in mother nature. But the condensation and putting it in powder form is impossible for an average person.
It requires a large laboratory to be able to make Anthrax move with the air, or with the wind, which then you can sniff, and then you need to inhale a large dose to be affected. If anybody produced Anthrax, their family, neighbors, the birds on the trees, the dogs, the cats and the mice would be dead.
When I did some studying about this, I found out that, just to keep it in the same place, it costs around 400 million dollars.
No single human being is capable of home-producing effective Anthrax as a biological weapon.

I hope you are right because I couldn't believe it when they said that, it was stated that anyone who was doing research on drugs or vaccines could get it and of course that would mean anyone at all, I'm sure they don't check. They also stated that amounts of anthrax are kept in large hospitals and medical schools.

What I found when I tried to research this whole subject was that military Anthrax is resistant to antibiotics. That means, you inhale, you die. They are testing the strains of Anthrax. What I understood from my small research was that there are tons of different kinds of Anthrax bacteria. Only one could be used as a biological weapon, and be effective. It is the military one. Now the question is, what kind of anthrax bacteria was present on the first Florida victim? Was it the military one? If that is the case, then Saddam is responsible for it.
I cannot find any information about whether this strain of anthrax was a military one. If it is the military strain, this kind of verification would point to Saddam Hussein. He is the only one who could produce it and distribute it. The non-military anthrax could be cured with anti-biotics, and there is no reason to panic. Homegrown lunatics are most likely doing it. Very soon they will be captured and put in a mental institution. The key is to find out what kind of anthrax it was. That will give you all the answers.

Thank you very much for that information. That guy is a smart guy. If it is laboratory grade, there is no reason to panic. It is curable with antibiotics. I believe you have to take Cipro twice a day for sixty days. The people who distributed it are trying to stir panic and scare us. They most likley know they cannot kill us with it. I will be looking hard for our own homegrown cookoos.

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