J'ACCUSE

National Review Online ^ | 3/12/2003 | David Frum

[hchutch]

“J’Accuse” is the title of one of the most famous polemics of the century – Emile Zola’s 1898 open letter accusing the leaders of the French Army of deliberately framing Col. Alfred Dreyfus. Zola's letter takes its title from the ringing paragraphs at the finale:

“I accuse Lt. Col. du Paty de Clam ... I accuse General Mercier ... I accuse General Billot ... etc.”

Dreyfus was of course Jewish, and the battle between the Dreyfusards and anti-Dreyfusards quickly transformed itself into a grand argument over the place of Jews in France. The anti-Dreyfusards regarded Jews as inherently alien and disloyal by definition. Facts never mattered much to them: When it was finally proven that one of the documents that condemned Dreyfus had in fact been falsified by the Army, a leading anti-Dreyfusard named Charles Maurras hailed the “heroic forgery.”

As little as they liked Dreyfus, however, the anti-Dreyfusards liked Emile Zola if possible even less. They charged him with libel, prosecuted, and convicted him – many of them threatened to murder him; they succeeded instead in driving him into exile. He died in 1902 under suspicious circumstances; some believe he was murdered in retaliation for his defense of Dreyfus. So it is really rather a perverse triumph for the author of “J’Accuse” that the anti-Dreyfusards of our day now seek to borrow Zola’s words.

Yet there they are in the current issue of The American Conservative under the byline of Pat Buchanan.

“We charge that a cabal of polemicists and public officials seek to ensnare our country in a series of wars that are not in America’s interests. We charge them with colluding with Israel to ignite those wars and destroy the Oslo Accords. We charge them with deliberately damaging U.S. relations with every state in the Arab world that defies Israel or supports the Palestinian people’s right to a homeland of their own. We charge that they have alienated friends and allies all over the Islamic and Western world through their arrogance, hubris, and bellicosity.”

Buchanan’s authority to decide which wars are in America’s interest and which are not is rather badly tarnished by his own opposition to the liberation of Kuwait in 1991 and the opposition of many of his neo-isolationist pals to the campaign against the Taliban. Even more bizarre is this sudden concern for "friends and allies" from a man who has spent the past decade and a half denying that America needed either.

More on all that for another day. In the meantime, here is a rewriting of “J’Accuse” that is perhaps more in keeping with the ideals and principles of its original author, who – though a lifelong man of the Left – was always a patriot.

“We charge that a cabal of writers who misuse the title of ‘conservatives’ are rallying to defend an Iraqi dictator who has waged war on American allies, attempted to assassinate an American president, fired on American aircraft, and who is now arming to threaten Americans with mass murder.

“We charge them with making common cause with left-wing radicals and radical Islamists, former communists and other people who hate the United States – all in order to prematurely halt the war on terror and preserve the Iraqi dictator’s rule.

“We charge them with forgetting George Washington’s warning in his Farewell Address against ‘habitual hatred’ for any nation – and instead allowing their unreasoning loathing of the Jewish state to lead them into what Washington condemned as a ‘passionate attachment’ to Baathist Iraq.

“We charge them with disregarding their wartime duty to lay aside their prejudices and resentments for the sake of the common good. We charge them with attempting to undermine a conservative Republican president in a moment of national emergency. We charge them with acting as excuse-makers for America’s enemies. We charge them with failing to put America first.”

[dennisw]

He was talking about Buchanen with David Gregory. Imus told Gregory that Buchanen had lost a relative in the German concentration camps.

---> He fell off of a guard tower.

An oldie but goodie

[JohnGalt]

You had to go to a Canadian to get a response?

You Wilsonians need to get your own board.

[Poohbah]

He was talking about Buchanen with David Gregory. Imus told Gregory that Buchanen had lost a relative in the German concentration camps.

He fell off of a guard tower.

KA-POW! On target with high-order detonation!

[Howlin]

Love it!

[Consort]

It was disappointing to see how many poster here supported Buchanan and were totally blind to his fatal shortcomings. The GOP has done much better without him. If Buchanan is considered to be a Conservative, then Conservatism is in deep trouble.

[xzins]

Buchanen is no Jewish name.

I don't believe Imus until I see further evidence.

Nonetheless, this wouldn't be the first Jew who turned against other Jews. Kaganovitch did so for Stalin. Flavius Josephus did so for the Roman Legions.

[Poohbah]

Go back and reread Post #19--ALL of it. You missed the humor.

[hchutch]

Mr. Frum has a better idea of the best course of action for America than Mr. Buchanan. I ask you, why do you continute to advocate this blatatntly misuguided, naive, and stupid course of action?

Why are you defending a dictator who has waged war on American allies, attempted to assassinate an American president, fired on American aircraft, and who is now arming to threaten Americans with mass murder?

Why are you making common cause with with left-wing radicals and radical Islamists, former communists and other people who hate the United States – all in order to prematurely halt the war on terror and preserve the Iraqi dictator’s rule?

Why are you attempting to undermine a conservative Republican president in a moment of national emergency?

Why are you acting as an excuse-maker for America’s enemies?

Why are you not putting America first?

Why?

[Poohbah]

Here's the reason:

[xzins]

my apologies

i didn't get as far as the "guard tower" part.

I am so embarrassed.

[TigersEye]

"We charge them with colluding with Israel to ignite those wars and destroy the Oslo Accords." Hooray!
"We charge them with deliberately damaging U.S. relations with every state in the Arab world"... What relations?
..."that defies Israel or supports the Palestinian people’s right to a homeland of their own." Halleleujah!!!
"We charge that they have alienated friends and allies all over the Islamic and Western world through their arrogance, hubris, and bellicosity.”
Whatever it takes! With friends like Jacques Chirac and King Faisal who needs enemies? Let's start shooting and keep on shooting until not one voice is raised against us.

[ellery]

Pat should put some ice on that.

[hchutch]

Quote of the Day nomination.

[TC Rider]

I've been known to have an itchy posting finger myself from time to time.

[JohnGalt]

You'll understand when folks start divesting in dollars and investing in Euros. The President proposed an LBJ style budget, without including the cost of the war and yet you call him a Conservative President?

I guess I am against the war because I think President Bush is a better than average President and I don't want him to be a one-termer.

[hchutch]

Aha!! You just made one false assumption that shoots down your thesis.

Bush is going to let our troops WIN. LBJ never did.

[JohnGalt]

Huh? Sure Iraq will be defeated but Bush's Budget has world wide, economic ramifications (made worse by Greenspan putting ever more dollars into the market.)

As financiers decide they are better off converting their dollars into Euros where the currency is predictable, and with Europe sitting out the war, it will look very attractive. As the demand for dollars goes down, there will be serious implications to Joe Public, particularly as state governments across the country are set to raise taxes. That is my concern. I hope I am wrong.

Without stable, conservative justification for the action in Iraq, world financiers will start hedging their bets, and if the United States continues to pressure other Middle Eastern countries, financiers will continue to shift to Euros.

[Poohbah]

Yeah, sure...they'll stick their money in Euros, which are stable...but only because the economies backing them are completely stagnant.

BTW, is your net worth in the same league as Warren Buffett's? If not, then kindly explain how you seem know so much about international finance without deriving any benefit from that knowledge...

[JohnGalt]

I am just making an observtion about the behavior of France and Germany; or do you really think that they are behaving this way because they are anti-Semites and cowards?

With the coming deficits, very little, tax relief or deregulation, another Fed Rate cut, and a war with an uncertain future, I am simply not convinced that folks will keep financing this heaven on earth we have been trying to build. I am not willing to risk the 2004 election on it.

[Poohbah]

I am just making an observtion about the behavior of France and Germany; or do you really think that they are behaving this way because they are anti-Semites and cowards?

France and Germany have done a land-office business in selling questionable items to Iraq since 1991. Bonn and Paris are afraid of what's going to happen when we dig out the Iraqi archives. We might not be in a very forgiving mood.

A further twist in France is that 10% of the electorate is Muslim, and that number is only going to increase as time goes on.