Why Washington's hawks see further than Europe's doves

The Daily Telegraph ^ | February 6, 2003 | Charles Moore

[Savage Beast]

"Most European politicians...think that...George W. Bush is ignorant and...Donald Rumsfeld...is positively frightening."

If so, they are fools.

[Happygal]

Not bad at all!

Bump! :-)

[ellery]

bttt

[blackbag]

Your posts always strike a chord for me. Thanks for your vigilance

[aculeus]

But if the conflict is between extremists who hate the West and want to destroy it and the political and cultural values that all European nations claim to share, why is it so wrong?

Why indeed?

Bump.

[steveegg]

Regarding the learning curve, the steepness only matters if it's being climbed. Old Europe is stubbornly refusing to climb it (the reasons don't really matter in this context).

Considering what they need to learn, and how little time there is for them to learn it, the curve is not only steep, but high.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Does being born on European soil automatically confer a sophistication that rude Americans cannot possibly attain to?"

Well, the Europeans certainly think so.

[steveegg]

It is amazing that Europe doesn't say anything about Libya chairing the UN Committee on Human Rights, or that Iraq will be heading the UN Committee on Disarmament starting in March.

Considering who the class enemies of these two countries are, it is not in the least surprising that Old Europe is silent.

[general_re]

And what, Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroder, is the alternative?

"Total capitulation," apparently...

[xJones]

class enemies

That's the problem with old Europe, they're still stuck in that Marxist quagmire, not that our left-wingers are any better.

[steveegg]

That's the problem with old Europe, they're still stuck in that Marxist quagmire, not that our left-wingers are any better.

True enough, but I can't think of a more-appropriate term considering the economic leanings of Qaddafi (is there a wrong way to spell that name? :-) and Hussein (which they share along with the most-hated countries list with Old Europe and the average DemonRAT).

[xJones]

Qaddafi (is there a wrong way to spell that name?

Well, you can calls him Kadaffi, and you can calls him Gadaffi, and you can calls him Qadaffi, but you can't calls him Cadaffi.

[LonePalm]

If steep is bad, it's not a learning curve. It's a stupidity curve.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[steveegg]

If steep is bad, it's not a learning curve. It's a stupidity curve.

Old Europe has to learn a lot quickly; that's why I called it steep (to reflect how little time they have to learn) and high (because they have a boatload to learn). Of course, when you're going backwards on it like they are, then it's a stupidity curve.

[foreshadowed at waco]

As in Palestine, so in Iraq, the hawks reject the idea implicit in the views of the chancelleries of Europe that the only people who can effectively run the place are evil bastards. They think that the four million Iraqi exiles and most of the people still living in the place would like the chance of a civil society and, with help, could start building one.

I think that the 'hawks' in this case are being pragmatic in the long term...they believe in America as a bastion of freedom and in freedom itself as a laudable goal for a people...even Tony Blair believes in the integrity of the individual and thinks that the Iraqi people deserve to live better lives...our countries are on the right side of history (again)...I only hope that the aftermath in Iraq runs more smoothly than Afghanistan and that we open the prisons and deluge the Arab world with the truth of Saddam's evil regime.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

A most excellent article!

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[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I think I will bookmark this one!

[Free the USA]

Thanks for the ping to a good article.

[okie01]

"One would think so, listening to the derisive, dismissive, pronouncments emanating from the inner chambers of Paris, Brussels and Berlin."

You might also add the "inner chambers" of New York, Hollywood and acadaemia...