January 14, 2004

The Left Cannot Keep Its Story Straight.

Dean, of course, is always slamming the U.S. for acting unilaterally, that is, without the approval of nations such as Germany and France who don’t share our interests and who don’t care what happens to us. USA today has just found that in 1995, Dean stated the opposite view, in a letter of advice to Clinton:

Dean urged Clinton to take unilateral action in Bosnia

By Steve Komarow, USA TODAY

Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean, a strong critic of what he calls President Bush’s unilateral approach to foreign policy, urged President Clinton to act unilaterally and enter the war in Bosnia in 1995. (Related item: Text of letter)

“I have reluctantly concluded that the efforts of the United States and NATO in Bosnia are a complete failure,” he wrote, citing reports of genocide during the Bosnian civil war. “If we ignore these behaviors … our moral fiber as a people becomes weakened. ... We must take unilateral action.”

The July 19, 1995, letter, obtained by USA TODAY, was written on Dean’s official stationery as Vermont governor. The language appears to contradict Dean’s core complaint that President Bush has followed a unilateral foreign policy, instead of a multilateral approach that relies on consultation and joint action with allies. He has repeatedly attacked Bush’s decision to invade Iraq.

As if this isn’t already funny enough, check out this defense of Dean, from later in the same article, from the policy director for Dean’s campaign:

The word “imminent” is key to differentiating Dean’s policy from the president’s decision to invade Iraq, said Jeremy Ben-Ami, policy director for Dean’s campaign.

Bush “sold the war on the basis of an imminent threat to U.S. security, and that has now been shown to be false,” Ben-Ami said. Since the threat from Iraq was not imminent, the administration could not properly justify the war, he said.

Everybody knows that Bush didn’t say that. He said that if we wait until the threat is imminent, it’s too late.

However, when Bush laid out the case for the war in his 2003 State of the Union address, he said the United States should not wait for an imminent threat.

“Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent,” Bush said. “Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike? If this threat is permitted to fully and suddenly emerge, all actions, all words, and all recriminations would come too late. Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein … is not an option.”

So what’s with the left? It’s not like they’re uninformed. It’s not like they don’t know this stuff. They just don’t care about the truth at all. They care about one thing only: getting more power for themselves. Everything else takes a back seat to that. Keeping the U.S. from getting nuked by terrorists? That’s not even on their radar.