A feature story on Podhoretz’s speech and an editorial on Bush’s “romanticism” of the Iraq war were released in the March 27 issue of The Chronicle. While it is understandable that editorials are biased, feature articles should be objective. Since Brian Bohl’s editorial, “Bush attempts to ‘romanticize’ war in Iraq,” was printed, Manzoni’s feature article on Podhoretz’s speech should have had an objective tone.
Podhoretz said, “Statistics can be manipulated.” This was his response to Manzoni’s accusation that 4,000 deaths is a large toll. Podhoretz continued, saying, “4,000 U.S. troops have died in the past five years in Iraq, while 500,000 U.S. troops died in its four-year involvement in World War II, and 8,000 U.S. troops died in the three-year Korean War.” Thus, in perspective, 4,000 deaths is a low number.
Another emphasis of Podhoretz’s speech was that Truman’s Containment policy is similar to Bush’s Preemption policy with the War on Terrorism. The objective of Bush’s War on Terrorism, like Truman’s Containment policy, is to prevent a domino effect.
In Truman’s time, the focus of the domino effect was to stop the spread of communism; in Bush’s time, the focus of the domino effect is to stop the percentage of terrorists from increasing and to ensure the number of rogue states that have nuclear weapons does not increase. Furthermore, the Korean War, which is generally considered a success, was nearly as unpopular as the Iraq Conflict currently is.
“The very thought of losing is hateful to an American,” declared Podhoretz. He explained how McCain embodies the spirit of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Podhoretz noted that like Eisenhower, McCain has an extensive degree of experience on foreign battle fields. Furthermore, McCain, unlike Bush, is a moderate Republican like Eisenhower was. This is noteworthy because Eisenhower not only enjoyed one of the highest presidential approval ratings, but he also worked effectively with a Democratic Congress and Senate.
Despite Bush having little appeal to me, I urge everyone to find some legitimacy in his recent remark in a video conference that the Iraq Conflict is “romantic.” Refrain from discrediting him like Bohl did in his article just because he fulfilled just four years of his six-year deployment to Vietnam.
Instead, realize a draft existed at that time, and the majority of people were finding shortcuts. We won the Iraq War without even having to institute a draft, and Iraq is now in an occupation stage, which is the standard procedure that follows a war. It is “romantic” that this stage can be over within two years. After all, we do not want to leave Iraq and have them rebuild a military that is anti-American, anti-Israel or anti-democracy, for then 4,000 lives will have been sacrificed in vain.
The military, marines and navy are secure bodies through which a nuclear war can be prevented. They are also bodies through which the cause of many Middle Eastern citizens with similar morals as us can be supported; the CNN broadcast of “Special Investigation Unit” nearly three weekends ago raised awareness about these citizens. The bottom line is that peace talks will take forever. Underneath the surface of a picturesque alternative entailing a successful negotiation without any military enforcement lies a Muslim/Arab world which populates two-thirds of the global population. Middle Eastern Education Systems are breeding a new generation of terrorists; we must act swiftly. Podhoretz said,”The more we look like a strong horse, the more people will feel inclined to follow our leadership.”
Adam Wasser is a sophomore media studies student. You may e-mail him at [email protected].