Coalition Of The Willing

My first YDN op-ed in about a year is here.

UPDATE: Dan Munz puts the point of my column in a nutshell:

It's probably true that France would never have cooperated in Iraq, but the Bush administration could have isolated France.

Some quick, related thoughts I didn't have space to include in the YDN piece: To the extent that the Bush administration did build a pre-war coalition, it has failed miserably at maintaining the alliances during the post-war period, when (as opposed to the invasion itself) having allies was really crucial. Poland, of "he forgot Poland!" fame, is gone. While the Germans would be amenable to cooperation iff. [if and only if--ed.] they see evidence that the American president is a rational actor.

The British, our only significant military ally in Iraq, are not going to cut and run---at least as long as Tony Blair remains PM. But the Blair government has been put in an impossible position: having to support on moral grounds a president whom the British people almost universally revile. Moreover, every time Blair admits error and accepts responsibility for the missteps in Iraq, his American counterpart, still losing a thumb-wrestling match with reality, claims that nothing is awry and that any statement to the contrary is a scaremongering Democratic lie. In short, the Bush administration makes it difficult, perhaps impossible, for even the most-amiably disposed nations to be allies of the United States. That Bush interprets this phenomenon as evidence of his own strength and resolve in the war on terror is sufficient reason to unelect him on pure national security grounds.

Keep in mind that Donald Rumsfeld, who, pace Mr. Bush, is actually one of the worst Secretaries of Defense in American history, is reponsible for A) Abu Ghraib; B) the old Europe/new Europe dichotomy belied by, well, everything; C) dissing Tony Blair and speculating about how we don't need Britain. My purpose, incidentally, is not to equate these things morally, but only to point out what a slobbering mess Rumsfeld must surely be for the careerist grown-ass men at Foggy Bottom.

By the way, if anyone could summarize the chronology connecting the crotch-stuffed aircraft carrier landing to the looting of the al QaQaa explosives depot, I'd be appreciative.