September 20, 2006

Selling Out Victory for Unrequited Love

Remember all the “goodwill” the world felt toward America when it was still reeling from the sucker punch that was 9/11? Remember when we started “squandering” said goodwill by stepping out of the victim role and kicking some terrorist and tyrant butt?

If the goodwill has really been squandered, I can’t say I miss it. I’ll opt to see America kick butt any day. But three Republican senators and one former Secretary of State seem to feel differently. As far as John Warner, John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Colin Powell are concerned, we’re better off treating terrorists with kid gloves and having the world love us – as opposed to doing what’s necessary to win, and putting up with the inevitable harrumphing.

Yes. Of course. What would we do without the approval our “allies”?

Our fair-weather friends around the world have always been behind us – way behind us – in our various campaigns against evil, despotism and terrorism. America’s allies back us up all right, sort of like a freeway bottleneck. Provided they aren’t asked to spend money, commit troops or take political risks, our allies are always, really, pretty much, sort of at our side.

Who could ever forget their dogged commitment to their own security when they howled about Ronald Reagan’s decision to put Pershing II missiles in their European backyard? Our allies. Gotta love ‘em. Sort of like you have to love the sister-in-law who always brings green bean casserole to Thanksgiving and won’t stop watching you until you try some.

Ah family. Aunt Beatrice. Cousin Josiah. Belgium. We really need to get together more often. Gosh, look at the time . . .

America should know by now how it works with our allies. They need us? We’re their best friend. We need them? What’s in it for them? The heat’s on? Try some green bean casserole, America, and then we’ll talk.

So when our so-called allies start screaming about our supposedly harsh treatment of terrorism suspects, no one should be surprised. Human Rights Watch complains. Amnesty International complains. Fear strikes the hearts of European capitals. And as for our Middle Eastern “allies,” who often say one thing and do another for fear of reprisals from terrorist groups in their own countries, such protests should be taken with about the same degree of seriousness with which they are offered. None.

But don’t tell that to Sens. Warner, McCain and Graham, or to Secretary Powell. They fear that the world is souring on us, what with our refusal to grant Geneva Convention protections to people who a) never signed the Geneva Convention; and b) wouldn’t play by the rules of Geneva if they had signed it. And they are trying to pass legislation that would require such considerations of the military and the CIA.

McCain, of all people, should know better. He was tortured – real torture, not waterboarding – by a North Vietnamese regime that had signed and ratified the Geneva Convention. Object lesson from history: Tyrants sign treaties with their fingers crossed behind their backs. What does McCain expect of a bunch of terrorists who not only haven’t signed the Geneva Convention, but make no bones about the fact that they intend to kill civilians, torture prisoners and generally do anything else they please in the course of jihad?

As it turns out, he expects nothing of them, but he expects a lot of America. He expects America to avoid “harsh interrogation” techniques, and to never deny terror suspects access to evidence, no matter how effective such techniques may be in preventing the next 9/11.

The Bush administration says, and McCain and friends do not dispute, that these techniques have already helped prevent as many as eight major terrorist attacks since 9/11. But “the world” is upset, and that upsets Nervous Nellies of the GOP. We need the rest of the world, or so we are told, to win the war on terror.

And we need the rest of the world because . . . well, it’s not coming to me either. The fact of the matter is that the rest of the world needs America far more than we need them. What’s more, our allies support us when they think it’s in their best interests and they don’t when they think it’s not. If they howl about “harsh interrogation” or “torture” for the benefit of their own political constituencies, it doesn’t change the fact that they’ll be calling us when they need help.

The world just loved us when we were suffering. When we started making other people suffer, they loved us a lot less. Something seems dysfunctional about this relationship. If Warner, McCain, Graham and Powell want to sign a suicide pact with our enemies to win the hearts of the allies who are threatening to jilt them, the rest of the nation would appreciate if they don’t drag us along.

We’re better off defeating our enemies, by whatever means are necessary, than taking a dive to please fair-weather friends.

This is Column # DC51.  Request permission to publish here.