Skip to main content

Dodd On The Stump: The More You Look, The Less There Is

The problem with Sen. Chris Dodd’s view of the world – and even more so his views on foreign policy – is that there is no “is” there.

In foreign policy issues, Dodd proceeds as if the ideal universe he wishes to establish on earth, mostly by diplomatic means, is the reality; when, in fact, the real world, especially in the Middle East, is riven by religious zealots impervious to diplomacy whose world view is shaped by dreams of a Islamic caliphate that will extend from the shores of Tripoli to the halls of Montezuma.

Improbable as it may seem, in the real world of Osama bin Ladin and his intellectual offspring, the Islamic revolution will not be complete until Dodd’s two charming daughters are wrapped in burqas and Dodd himself, a putative Catholic, is taxed for his non-belief. That is the way things were in the good old days of the 10th century, and terrorists in and outside of Iraq are striving to reestablish their supremacy over the West – which is to say, over everything to which Dodd should have pledged his life, his liberty and his sacred honor.

In a recent speech delivered before a Des Moines public affairs audience, Dodd said, "We don't need a surge of troops in Iraq - we need a surge of diplomacy. The Bush/McCain Doctrine is not succeeding, it is failing.” Both Dodd and McCain are running for the presidency, and Dodd, after some wandering around in the desert, has now positioned himself firmly in the camp of the anti-war movement.

The first line of Dodd’s statement is a mere platitude disguised as a foreign policy apercu; because a military surge in Iraq may fail – and Democrats in congress are determined that it should fail – it does not follow that diplomacy will succeed.

One can only be diplomatic with another diplomat who represents the interests of a nation. But the jihadist surge underway in and outside Iraq operates outside national boundaries, and it is not likely that emissaries sent to terrorists will be successful in persuading them that time, God, Cindy Sheehan and the US Congress is not on their side. Thomas Jefferson did not send diplomats to negotiate with the Barbary pirates of his day, the equivalent of the jihadists. He sent in the marines, over the objection of Europe, which was content to continue to pay tribute to the pashas in Tripoli to secure safe shipping in the Mediterranean and every where else the pirates plied their trade.

The second line of Dodd’s statement is a feeble political attempt to bond with those who disagree with President George Bush’s efforts to bring democracy to Arabia with a sword, always a chancy proposition. But the line provides a nifty sound bite and will play well on the political circuit.

The Democrat Party’s position on the war – war bad, peace good – is guaranteed to please, but its short term strategy may inflict upon the party wounds from which it may not easily recover. The present strategy Dodd has settled upon – American troops must be out of Iraq by March 31, 2008 -- is neither honest, nor particularly effective, and that is the beauty and purpose of it.

Dodd’s efforts to bring the troops home by micromanaging a war in progress is essentially dishonest because Congress can tomorrow end the war honorably and constitutionally by de-financing it. Instead, foreign policy experts such as Dodd and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, both schooled in the ways of anti-war protests, have decided to subvert the war by inflicting upon the president a death of a thousand cuts. They do not want to leave their fingerprints on a war that many of them consider hopelessly lost; they want the president to lose the war, and to this end they have threatened to attach conditions to the funds they provide for its prosecution.

Dodd’s strategy will not be effective because a retreat from the field of battle on the enemy’s terms will make diplomacy impossible and tribute necessary. The jihadists will continue to hollow out countries through terrorist activities and use them as Jefferson’s pirates once used captured ships – to effect their ends, while demanding tribute from intimidated nations.

The notion that peace will flow from a withdrawal is a comfortable illusion that refuses manfully to face reality. The reality is that Bush’s participation in the war will end when his term in office ends. And if Democrats are successful in their attempt to capture the White House, they will inherit the wind. The war against the West will not end when the Bush administration comes to an end.

A precipitous withdrawal will not prevent Hamas and Hezbollah from shooting rockets into Israel, Victor David Hanson reminds us in a Washington Times column: Tribute will still be paid by Gulf States to terrorists in an attempt to escape their wrath; the Sunni triangle will still serve as a magnet for jihadists; Iran will not abandon its attempt to acquire a nuclear bomb, and New York, twice attacked by jihadists, will not be safe so long as borders are porous and Iran has its finger on nuclear technology.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Blumenthal Burisma Connection

Steve Hilton , a Fox News commentator who over the weekend had connected some Burisma corruption dots, had this to say about Connecticut U.S. Senator Dick Blumenthal’s association with the tangled knot of corruption in Ukraine: “We cross-referenced the Senate co-sponsors of Ed Markey's Ukraine gas bill with the list of Democrats whom Burisma lobbyist, David Leiter, routinely gave money to and found another one -- one of the most sanctimonious of them all, actually -- Sen. Richard Blumenthal."

Powell, the JI, And Economic literacy

Powell, Pesci Substack The Journal Inquirer (JI), one of the last independent newspapers in Connecticut, is now a part of the Hearst Media chain. Hearst has been growing by leaps and bounds in the state during the last decade. At the same time, many newspapers in Connecticut have shrunk in size, the result, some people seem to think, of ad revenue smaller newspapers have lost to internet sites and a declining newspaper reading public. Surviving papers are now seeking to recover the lost revenue by erecting “pay walls.” Like most besieged businesses, newspapers also are attempting to recoup lost revenue through staff reductions, reductions in the size of the product – both candy bars and newspapers are much smaller than they had been in the past – and sell-offs to larger chains that operate according to the social Darwinian principles of monopolistic “red in tooth and claw” giant corporations. The first principle of the successful mega-firm is: Buy out your predator before he swallows

Down The Rabbit Hole, A Book Review

Down the Rabbit Hole How the Culture of Corrections Encourages Crime by Brent McCall & Michael Liebowitz Available at Amazon Price: $12.95/softcover, 337 pages   “ Down the Rabbit Hole: How the Culture of Corrections Encourages Crime ,” a penological eye-opener, is written by two Connecticut prisoners, Brent McCall and Michael Liebowitz. Their book is an analytical work, not merely a page-turner prison drama, and it provides serious answers to the question: Why is reoffending a more likely outcome than rehabilitation in the wake of a prison sentence? The multiple answers to this central question are not at all obvious. Before picking up the book, the reader would be well advised to shed his preconceptions and also slough off the highly misleading claims of prison officials concerning the efficacy of programs developed by dusty old experts who have never had an honest discussion with a real convict. Some of the experts are more convincing cons than the cons, p