Posted on 09/25/2002 6:30:47 PM PDT by irradiateiraq
Al Gore mouths off unhelpfully on Iraq
A Boston Herald editorial
Wednesday, September 25, 2002
Al Gore has come out against President Bush's plans to fight Iraq. Must be a case of the White House declining to buy his support. That is his pattern, after all.
It ill becomes Gore, the second-ranking official in an administration that did essentially nothing to counter the threats to the United States and its interests from rogue outfits like Iraq and al-Qaeda, to be picky about an administration that is taking action.
Gore's boss, President Clinton, did nothing but throw a few cruise missiles at Iraq when Saddam Hussein tried to assassinate Bush's father, former President George H.W. Bush, in 1993. He was so determined not to rock the boat that at times the U.S. warplanes attacking threatening Iraqi missile sites attacked with bombs containing only concrete, not explosives. He refused to take custody of Osama bin Laden when the government of Sudan made the offer. It sometimes seemed that about the only thing that could arouse Clinton against terrorists were threatening headlines about his relations with Monica Lewinsky.
Gore was among a minority of Senate Democrats who voted to authorize Bush's father to use force to expel Iraq's army from Kuwait in 1991. Then-Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming, deputy leader of the Republicans and one helping to allocate speaking time on the Senate floor in support of the president, said Gore threatened to vote against the resolution if his 20 minutes weren't scheduled during prime TV time.
Now Gore is resorting to the all-purpose excuse of liberals: The president's course doesn't conform to international law. He said the president is abandoning the goal of a world where nations follow laws, to be ``displaced by the notion that there is no law but the discretion of the president of the United States. If other nations assert the same right, then the rule of law will quickly be replaced by the reign of fear.''
It seems to us like the reign of fear is having a pretty good run right now, not just in the United States, and that's a large part of the problem. International law certainly means observance of treaties - which includes cease-fire agreements. Gore's argument is ridiculous in light of Iraq's failure to live up to its obligations. The better characterization of Bush is that of an enforcer of international law. The better characterization of Gore was offered by Jim Dyke, spokesman for the Republican National Committee: ``political hack.''
Heck, that is akin to my political pitch. That is the style in which I would express it. "Unhelpfully" is one of my favorites. Is someone copy-catting me?
Lady n r, you've a distinction without a difference....
We rotate huge numbers of pilots through the no-fly zone enforcement...getting them all experience in real-life hostile situations against relatively harmless (that is way outmatched) targets (the Iraqis). You can call that war, I call it practice.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.