OxBlog

Wednesday, January 01, 2003

# Posted 6:12 PM by Ariel David Adesnik  

WHEN DOVES ATTACK: Hawks are predators. Doves are not. When doves attack, their lack of natural talent quickly becomes apparent. Take for example, the all-out attack on W.'s Korea policy launched by Warren Christopher, Leon Fuerth and Josh Marshall.

Christopher is the most civil of the three. He argues that "North Korea's startling revival of its nuclear program...presents compelling reasons for President Bush to step back from his fixation on attacking Iraq and to reassess his administration's priorities."

In a column entitled "Outfoxed by North Korea", Fuerth asserts that "when using words as weapons, a leader must be prepared to back up his rhetoric with force. The president's nomination of North Korea as a member of the 'Axis of Evil' in his last State of the Union message now looks like a bluff that is being called."

Marshall hits hardest, describing the crisis as "an administration screw-up of mammoth proportions."

In addition to their harsh criticism of the President, what unites all three authors is their total unwillingness -- or perhaps inability -- to suggest an alternative to the administration's current policy. Each one acknowledges that the situation on the Korean peninsula is complex and volatile and that there are no simple answers to the questions that Bush is facing. But if there aren't any answers, why spend so much time criticizing the President?

Christopher thinks that if the Bush administration leaves Iraq alone for a while, it could spend more time figuring out how to resolve the Korean crisis. On the one hand, ignoring Iraq would waste all the politicam capital that the United States has invested in focusing Security Council attention on the issue. On the other, how exactly would spending more time thinking about Korea make things any easier? Christopher says that diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis will be complex and time consuming. And yet the administration has already made significant progress toward winning both UN and regional support for isolating North Korea.

Fuerth justifies his criticism by saying that "it would be wise for the administration to reverse course and engage with North Korea." Yet he also writes that "if the president negotiates, he will send a message that the key to respectful attention from his administration is blackmail." So what Fuerth is basically saying is that he wants Bush to give in to North Korean demands regardless of how embarrassing such a decision is. Now does that make any sense at all? Actually, yes -- if your ulterior motive is to show that Clinton's embarrassing 1994 concessions to the North Koreans were inevitable.

Marshall takes a third approach, alleging that Bush's failure has to be publicized because it has been "inexcusably ignored in the American press." Except in the NYT, on whose pages both Nick Kristof and Bill Safire have savaged the administration. Even the editors chipped in with some mild criticism. (NB: OxBlog took a few shots at Bush as well.) And all that was before the Times published Christopher and Fuerth's columns.

Admittedly, Marshall promises "more details soon", instead of just closing with his observation that "Tough talk sounds great until your opponent calls your bluff and everybody sees there's nothing behind the trash talk. Then you look foolish." Still, I find it extremely ironic that Marshall is now denouncing the administration for its weakness when just yesterday he was denouncing it for its dangerous unilateralism.

For constructive commentary on the Korean situation, its best to turn to the Washington Post, where Robert Gallucci -- the man who negotiated the 1994 accord on Clinton's behalf -- argues (along with Sandy Berger), that engagement won't work and that North Korea "must be willing to step forward to resolve its past nuclear history and open its future behavior to comprehensive and verifiable international scrutiny." The Post's editors agree. It's good to see that some observers can put partisanship behind and tackle the current crisis head-on.

UPDATE: Reader B observes that my zoological metaphor is slightly off-base. Non-predators such as doves are sometimes more brutal in their attacks because predators have instincts which prevent them from going to extremes. I guess you could apply that metaphorically as well.
(0) opinions -- Add your opinion

Comments: Post a Comment


Home