The American Spectator

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(Page 6 of 13)

Paul Doolittle /p>

It seems as though this Tucker is a glass-half-full kind of fellow, interpreting every setback as complete failure.

It would be tedious to attempt a thought-by-thought refutation of his whole thesis but let me hit a few high points. The Athenian attack on Syracuse eventually failed because the Syracusans and their allies managed to build a navy superior to that of the previously (maritime-wise) unchallenged Athenians. That's not too likely to happen to our navy in the Middle East.

Tucker claims that the vision of Iraq as "a peaceful, free-market democracy" is an illusion -- "a romantic illusion." He appears to believe that Muslim Arabs cannot hope to obtain the goals that both the West and Far East have realized. Might be true, I suppose, but wasn't this the same thing that was said (by some) about the Nazified Germans, the Imperial Japanese, the Communist Russians? I imagine that an earlier Tucker would have claimed that "Everything -- absolutely everything" demonstrated the illusory nature of our hopes that those totalitarian societies could become free and stable.

He makes the seemingly obligatory comparison with Vietnam, but this is a false equivalence. Our effort in Vietnam is better compared to the freeing of Kuwait, different in detail though it might be; the liberation of Iraq can be matched against the invasion of North Vietnam, the capture of its capital, the destruction of the Northern Army, and the de-Baathification -- excuse me -- the removal of its Communist cadres. That never happened, of course, because the Johnson/McNamara regime decided to play for a draw rather than victory. Still, that is what we are in the process of accomplishing in Iraq.

As for his rather mystical ideas regarding the excessive number of wives monopolized by rich and powerful Muslims preventing a stable society, let me point out that some early Christian societies had a similar -- albeit not as widespread -- situation (check Charlemagne's marital arrangements), as did the patriarchal Hebrews, among others. Indeed, we have a similar -- if informal -- situation today, as certain of the rich and notorious manage to accrue multiple mistresses and groupies in addition to their one legal wife, leaving some low-status men without steady female companionship. I don't suggest this is a good thing, you understand -- only that it exists within a reasonably stable society. Furthermore, it is not beyond belief that a secularized Muslim nation might legislate against multiple marriage.

Tucker's absolutely worst idea is that we should throw in the towel, thereby strengthening the lessons of Vietnam, Mogadishu, and even Kuwait: that we should again demonstrate that Americans lack the staying power to overcome determined third world resistance. Well, that would certainly be an aid to minimizing terrorism! And he fails even to consider the Kurds -- a success story if there ever was one --necessarily abandoned in his scenario, another fatal example to potential American allies. Sure, some day we will need to leave Iraq; I don't suggest we stay any longer than we have in Germany or Japan, maybe no longer than we did in the Philippines -- but certainly longer than we did in Cuba.

While we're at it, let's counter his Kipling with a bit of our own:

p> em>Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, br> Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat; br> But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, br> When two strong men stand face to face, tho' they come from the ends of the earth! /em>

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