February
24, 2005
Bush's Medicine For Old Europe
By
Austin Bay
Chalk it up as a second VE Day (Victory in Europe), and
credit President George W. Bush for following Sir Winston
Churchill's wise counsel: "In Victory: Magnanimity."
Bush's low-key shellacking of France's crook in chief,
Jacques Chirac, signals the political defeat of "Old
Europe" on the issue of Iraq. This past Monday, before
a state dinner in Belgium, a reporter asked Bush if he would
invite Chirac to his Texas ranch. Bush quipped, "I'm
looking for a good cowboy."
Remember, "cowboy" is Euro-snob code for "pathological
American suffering from hyper-power and gigantisme militaire."
Chirac responded by praising the excellence of U.S.-French
relations.
Yes indeed, my Parisian pod-nuh, we're all cowboys now
-- "High Noon" cowboys dedicated to defending
justice and freedom.
With a 10-gallon grin, Chirac's "western front"
-- a political concoction of anti-Americanism and cowardice
-- quietly folds. The Iraqi people's Jan 30 electoral show
of force sealed Chirac's defeat. Even in the benighted Bastilles
of Paris and Berlin, those ink-stained indicators of democracy
in the line of fire -- purple fingers -- point the way to
the future.
The ongoing and oh-so-public moral collapse of the United
Nations contributes to America's political victory. Chirac
banked on the U.N. as a platform for his cynical brand of
political power projection. The Oil for Food travesty, sex
shenanigans in Geneva and hideous sex crimes in the Congo
confirm the U.N.'s deep systemic ills and the need for major
reform. As Martin Peretz wrote in a recent New Republic
essay, the U.N. "is not a magnet for the good. It performs
the magic of the wicked. It is corrupt, it is pompous, it
is shackled to tyrants and cynics."
Chirac's Old Europe faced European opponents, beginning
with Tony Blair's Great Britain. Poland and Italy sent significant
troop contingents in Iraq and provided crucial political
support. The Poles understood the stakes. When I attended
an August 2004 planning session at the Polish headquarters
in Babylon, one senior Polish officer told me: "Poland
appreciates freedom. That's why we are here."
I didn't take that as a snide shot at France -- the colonel
meant it as a fact that had shaped his own life.
The Dutch and Danes added battalion-sized contingents.
In a late evening chat session in Baghdad, a Danish officer
told me, "We have few military forces (to start with),
but we're here." Why? America is addressing the central
strategic issue: the need for a democratic political reformation
in the Middle East. Extending democracy ultimately protects
Denmark.
The steady improvement of Iraqi security forces is a fourth
reason. While I don't think we'll see a fully capable Iraqi
military for another six or seven years, the training trend-line
is positive. Bean and bullet counters in Paris can follow
the trend out a decade, and it points to a self-sustaining
Iraq. With 200 billion barrels of oil and Washington as
an ally, this New Iraq could dominate Middle Eastern politics.
Best clean your six-gun, Jacques.
On Tuesday, all NATO members agreed to "assist in
training Iraqi security forces, to hasten the day when they
can take full responsibility for the stability of the country
and the security of its citizens."
While training assistance certainly serves as a political
fig-leaf, it's an absolutely vital task, as is economic
development.
That's where France and Germany can still contribute. With
Churchillian grace, Bush acknowledged that: "Today,
America and Europe face a moment of consequence and opportunity.
... We can once again set history on a hopeful course --
away from poverty and despair, and toward development and
the dignity of self-rule; away from resentment and violence,
and toward justice and the peaceful settlement of differences.
Seizing this moment requires idealism: We must see in every
person the right and the capacity to live in freedom."
For democracies that shirked the showdown in Iraq, Bush's
remarks are gentle acid, but it's medicine Old Europe knows
it has to swallow.
©
2005 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
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