The Corrections (by Victor Davis Hanson)

nationalreview ^ | July 18, 2003, 8:45 a.m. | Victor Davis Hanson

[knews_hound]

VDH Bump

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[MEG33]

I love reading Hanson.We will not falter.We will not fail.

[MattinNJ]

VDH ping.

What a great article. I didn't realize just how great a POTUS GWB was until I read this. While Rice, Cheney and Rummy should also get a lot of the credit, Dubya is the one who takes the heat.

Ronald Reagan's tepid response to mass murder in Lebanon

If anyone is universally lionized on FR (and rightfully so), it is Reagan. Yet after reading this, I have no doubt in my mind that Dubya would have changed a few regimes after that horrible tragedy in Lebanon-he would have gone further than the great Reagan. Amazing when you think about it.

While a lot of us differ with Dubya on immigration, prescription drugs, etc... there can remain little doubt that he will go down as one of the top 5 POTUS of all time to all those who know right from wrong (which obviously excludes leftists).

[hobbes1]

And lets not forget, How possible would Peace in the Middle East be, if Iraq still held Arafats padrone, Hussein, instead of 150K Americn Troops......

[MEG33]

This explains it better.

[Cacophonous]

I'm a little puzzled by your reactions; President Bush DID describe a threat that was approaching, brewing, close, coming, expectant, fast-approaching, following, forthcoming, gathering, immediate, impending, in prospect, in store, in view, ineluctable, inescapable, inevasible, inevitable, likely, looming, menacing, near, nearing, next, nigh, overhanging, possible, probable, threatening, to come, unavoidable, unescapable (all of those are possible synonyms for imminent), whether he used the actual words or not.

Are you saying the threat was not overhanging, in view, or brewing? Of course the threat was nearing, probable and coming; it's why we went in. If he says it was less than so, it weakens his position.

[MEG33]

I have no quarrel with any word he said.When quoting say what he said(This I ask of the press and ,when pigs fly..the democrats.)

[Cacophonous]

Well, don't let a visceral negative reaction cloud the issue. The fact is, it was an immediate threat, and the President described it as so, no matter what words he used. Getting wrapped up in a "depends on what the meaning of 'imminent' is" is not going to help.

[MEG33]

I watch too much news.They mean he was implying that Saddam was going to drop the bomb anyday when they say imminent.

[Mamzelle]

re: apprise the South Koreans of the risks of their triangulating policies, and inform China, Japan, and South Korea that a nuclear creep was loose in their neighborhood — not ours)))

VDH bump

[Gritty]

Hanson writes and reasons beautifully!

[Publius6961]

Great!
I was overdue for a VDH fix.

Wait. Let me rephrase that...

[MEG33]

Japan has voted to allow itself to impose sanctions without UN approval.SKorea has decided they really want us.China can gain from the blackmail but not war and Krazy Kim just may pull the trigger.Haven't kept up with Australia lately.Perhaps we are going to have a solid front?

[Billthedrill]

...who can ever forget the Canadian battle audacity and sacrifice in World War I and II?

Well, they've managed it in Ottawa. A signal characteristic of the group of internationalist operators that contains Chirac and Chretien (and Clinton and Schroeder and a host of others) is its contempt for things military and the grandiose notion that it has, as Hanson points out, evolved beyond the necessity for a military's existence. That this approach to world affairs has proven disastrous every time it has been tried throughout history without exception does not seem to matter much to this gaggle of wishful thinkers.

I think Hanson's criticism of Reagan to be justified, although it wasn't so much any lack of response to the Lebanese bombing that was harmful as it was the subsequent withdrawal of troops in its face. That did nothing but embolden and empower those responsible. But I would balance that criticism by noting the success Reagan did achieve in the forceful response in Libya which resulted from the nightclub bombing in Germany.

The success of covert state support of terrorism was, IMHO, a result of the deliberate preference of the aforementioned internationalists for endless negotiation and appeasement in the face of violence. One might even make the case that the system they set up created the problem, and that current practices in the UN are equally contributory. But it is the interest of that system to ensure that the U.S. continues to be a target of such terrorism, which is one reason it is folly to expect the UN to solve the problem, or Chretien or Chirac to acknowledge its existence.

[MEG33]

I believe Blair made a case that compromise is not always an option when dealing with today's terror.

[dennisw]

(VDH)...who can ever forget the Canadian battle audacity and sacrifice in World War I and II?

Well, they've managed it in Ottawa. A signal characteristic of the group of internationalist operators that contains Chirac and Chretien

That was AngloCanada that was so brave in WW2. AngloCanada is no more except that Western provinces are more supportive of US/Brit joint efforts in Iraq. AngloCanada is no more when you have some French guy running Canada. And this French guy has all kinds of multi-culti nuts in his cabinet.

[Mamzelle]

SK may have decided that they want us, but it's up to us to decide if we want them. I assert that we can't afford them, and they can well afford to take care of themselves, since they are not only our economic competitors but have an economy going like gangbusters. We can operate flexibly from the Sea of Japan, or in Japan itself.

[MEG33]

I hear you.I think so too.