Orange County Register: Real war debate looms - at long last

[question everything]

Friday, September 24, 2004

Real war debate looms - at long last

The Kerry campaign's new emphasis on Iraq may give the issue the attention it deserves

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The issues surrounding war and peace are the most profound an American president must handle. One suspects that Messrs. Bush and Kerry would handle them differently, but until recently the indications were that Sen. Kerry was going to focus on the economy and health care, giving the American people little chance to compare and contrast the two on foreign policy issues.

The decision to focus on President Bush's war leadership is potentially risky. So far the president does better in most polls on such qualities as leadership and decisiveness. But things - not everything, but perhaps the most important things, such as security against insurgency - really are going badly in Iraq. The people whose tax money and sons and daughters are paying the price deserve a discussion of why, and the president seems determined not to waver from the most pollyannaish portrayal possible.

Only in recent days has Sen. Kerry come out swinging fairly effectively. Last Thursday, before the National Guard Association, he said the president's appearance before the same group "had an unreal quality." He continued: "He did not tell you that with each passing day, we're seeing more chaos, more violence, more indiscriminate killings. He did not tell you that with each passing week, our enemies are getting bolder - that Pentagon officials report that entire regions of Iraq are now in the hands of terrorists and extremists. He did not tell you that with each passing month, stability and security seem farther and farther away."

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The candidates and others should widen the scope of the debate to include consideration of a range of policies that might help the United States to avoid mistakes in the future. We would suggest a more modest, less politically and militarily ambitious policy of free trade, non-interference in the affairs of other countries, attention to American freedoms and focused attacks on real enemies. All we really ask, however, is for the American people to have a wide range of options and analysis available in the weeks to come so their decisions about the future are as informed as possible. Elections seldom turn on foreign policy, but in this election it deserves to be central.

http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2004/09/24/sections/commentary/article_251530.php