Last night I had the strangest dream. I guess it was a
nightmare, really. I remember most of it, except how it ended.
First I dreamed Kerry won the election. That wasn’t so bad in
itself. He seemed Presidential enough for the job. He had a
dignified bearing, spoke well, didn’t mangle his phrases. People
were weary after four years of uncertainty under George Bush and
ready to try something new.
Kerry started off well. On January 22, in a burst of world
optimism, he went to the U.N. and laid down his mea culpa.
America had gone it alone too long, he said. We were ready to
cooperate with the rest of the world. The General Assembly gave him
a 15-minute standing ovation. His speech was cheered wildly in
cities from Paris to Berlin to Peshawar. A new day had dawned.
Peace was at hand.
The only concrete result that came out of his U.N. visit,
however, was that Poland decided to accelerate its troop
withdrawal, already scheduled for 2005. Other allies said that
since Kerry was throwing in the towel, they were going to leave
sooner than later as well. Everyone but Great Britain packed up and
headed home. Meanwhile, Kerry visited France and Germany to hold
long talks with President Chirac and Chancellor Schroeder. The main
outcome, however, was that they told him Iraq was his problem and
wished him well. Meanwhile, terrorists in Iraq stepped up their
operations
By the time President Kerry got back from Europe, things had
taken a turn for the worse. Both Sunni and Shi’ite leaders
announced that, despite the January election of Prime Minister Iyad
Allawi, both now regarded his victory as illegitimate. Democracy
was a foreign system that America was trying to impose on the
Muslim world. Both recommended a return to the Ummah, with
religious leaders at the helm. Since each sect claimed to the
rightful heirs of Mohammed, each claimed the right to the
position.
The opposition became bolder. Several suicide bombers penetrated
the Green Zone and American casualties started to rise. With our
allies pulling out, our soldiers were also required to take over
key positions in the South. Suddenly we found ourselves stretched
way too thin. Rioting broke out in several cities of the Sunni
Triangle.
All the pretty plans of the campaign were evaporating and
President Kerry now found himself facing the basic contradiction of
his position. Was Iraq the wrong war at the wrong place and the
wrong time? Or were we actually undermanned? For two long weeks,
Kerry mulled the problem while fierce debate was waged in Congress.
Half of Kerry’s constituency called for a pullout and peace
demonstrations took place in New York and Washington. Many
Democrats in Congress said our troops were endangered, however, and
call for a draft.
Kerry solved the problem by going to the United Nations. A high
level conference was arranged in Baghdad with all sides attending.
A truce was called and for three weeks an international panel
debated the issue. Finally, it was decided that 140,000 American
troops would be given safe passage out of the country. They would
leave in an orderly fashion and then Iraqis would continue to meet
under U.N. supervision to decide how they would govern
themselves.
Like the Indians watching the British march out of Fort William
Henry, however, once the terrorists saw their enemies defeated they
could not restrain themselves. Before the American soldiers had
even begun to pack their bags, they were under daily attack.
General fighting broke out in several cities, even as the U.N.
panel continued to meet. Then a suicide bomber rammed the home of
Prime Minister Allawi and killed him. The elected government
collapsed. Civil war broke out between Sunni and Shi’ite militias,
both claiming religious authority, while the Kurds withdrew
completely, declaring their own state..
Like so many a President before him, John Kerry found himself at
the mercy of events. All the pretty plans of his election campaign
— the diplomacy, the conferences with our allies — were
forgotten. Suddenly he was a commander-in-chief trying to rescue a
stranded army.
Events didn’t wait. Now convinced that America was abandoning
the Middle East and no longer content to watch Iran develop a
nuclear weapon that in two years would be able to hit Jerusalem,
the Israelis sent a fleet of F-16s to drop bunker-busting weapons
on three nuclear complexes at Bushehr, Natanz, and Arak. Rioting
broke out in every Middle Eastern capital. Terrorists streamed into
Baghdad from every direction. Syrian and Egyptian armies prepared
for a retaliatory attack against Israel.
That’s when I woke up.
I’ve been walking around in a cold sweat all day thinking about
these things. But that’s silly, I suppose. After all, it was only a
dream. The American people couldn’t possibly elect John Kerry
President, could they?
