As the
rest of the world seems hell-bent on the apocalypse, I ponder
the damage Mr. Bush has caused to the international
community.
The fact that the Mr. Rumsfield seems to have
underestimated how long it would take to defeat Iraq leads to some
interesting scenarios.
Will this embolden other nations to defy the U.S.? If
Iraq, which is supposedly a backwards nation with a decrepit
military, is holding the U.S. back, what could a major nation like
China or Russia do? (Make no mistake, I do think that the
defeat of Iraq is inevitable, barring some astounding catastrophe.
But that's the great thing about war, you never know just what will
happen.)
Like, can you imagine if the
American-spy-plane-in-China episode happened now? I have a feeling
that China wouldn't exactly take Mr. Bush quite as seriously.
What the doctrine of pre-emption has done is destroy
the principle of deterrance. If you're going to attack me
regardless of whether or not I have Weapons of Mass Destruction,
then I might as well have them, and I might as well try to use them
before you use them on me.
Ah. We are now in a world that is like Texas writ
large, the Old American West gone global, where everyone's
trigger-finger is itching for a showdown at noon. I tremble at the
thought of what an international shootout at the O.K. Corral will
look like.