What's he on about now?

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   Tuesday, September 24, 2002

NOT BAD, AL


The big story today is how Al Gore has come out swinging against President Bush's plans to oust Saddam Hussein, claiming that, "in the immediate aftermath of September 11th, more than a year ago, we had an enormous reservoir of good will and sympathy and shared resolve all over the world. That has been squandered in a year's time and replaced with great anxiety all around the world, not primarily about what the terrorist networks are going to do, but about what we're going to do."

The American press has leapt all over Gore for these supposedly-traitorous comments, but I do think his speech in San Francisco last night contained more than just the usual Bush-bashing. Gore believes that "the war against terrorism manifestly requires...the continuing, sustained cooperation of many nations. Our ability to secure that kind of multilateral cooperation in the war against terrorism can be severely damaged in the way we go about undertaking unilateral action against Iraq."

This seems like an entirely sensible opinion, but one we're not seeing reflected in the current situation. Comparing Iraq's current state to its invasion of Kuwait in 1990, Gore says that "back then, every Arab nation except Jordan...supported our military effort, was a part of the international coalition and some of them supplied troops. Our allies in Europe and Asia supported the coalition without exception." This is not the case right now, as we all know, and Bush needs to proceed with more thought than he's displayed so far. I agree completely with Al when he says, "If what America represents to the world is leadership in a commonwealth of equals, then our friends are legion. If what we represent to the world is an empire, then it is our enemies who will be legion." And when the US is starting with most of the Arab world, this is a scary notion.

In a related note, the chair of the UK Labour party -- behind Tony Blair's back, I imagine -- has co-written a critique of The dishonest case for war against Iraq -- yet another viewpoint to consider. I don't envy George Bush one bit but, unlike Al Gore, I'd like to be able to praise him at some point.

Labels: George W Bush