Was in the Trib this weekend.
I’m an interventionist. A liberal one who believes that judicious use of US power can make the world a better place. I’ve seen the horrors of the misuse of that power in Nicaragua, but I still believe the US can be a productive force in keeping the world stable and avoiding genocide. And both those goals make us more secure.
Despite my change of heart on Iraq, I’ve supported most of our international efforts over the last 10-12 years. Used within the context of world institutions American power can do amazing things. Used outside of that context it is far less powerful. And I believe that there are decent Republicans who have similar beliefs. While partisan rancor is high right now, there are several Republicans I have a great deal of respect for–one of them being Dick Lugar. From the Trib article are some excellent insights:
“Unless the United States commits itself to a sustained program of repairing and rebuilding alliances, expanding trade, pursuing resolutions to regional conflicts, supporting democracy and development and controlling weapons of mass destruction, we are likely to experience acts of catastrophic terrorism that would undermine our economy, damage our society and kill hundreds of thousands if not millions of people,” Lugar said.
Simple sentences are not his friend. But the point is obvious: The present strategy isn’t working.
“The United States, as a nation, simply has not made this commitment,” he continued. “We are worried about terrorism, but the evolution of national security policy has not kept up with the threat. We have relied heavily on military options and unilateral approaches that weakened our alliances. We have engaged in self-flagellation over the Sept. 11 tragedy rather than executive affirmative global strategies aimed at addressing the root causes of terrorism.”
The administration, which often regards Congress as little more than a nuisance, has even been reluctant to have key witnesses testify before Lugar’s committee.
Lugar isn’t perfect. He thought our efforts in the former Yugoslavia would fail. He was wrong there, but on Afghanistan and Iraq he has a depressingly nearly perfect record.
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