PrintRichard Cohen's bitter gall
Typical of the refusal of the left to acknowledge that Bush was right is Richard Cohen''s column today——an acknowledgement that while change is coming to the Middle East it may not be what we want.
When Baghdad fell and the statue of Hussein in Firdaus Square was initially draped with an American flag, the crowd went sullen —— an early and unmistakable sign that the United States was not going to be universally greeted as a liberator. Now some of us may be prematurely celebrating the changes in the Arab world, possibly mistaking them for what has happened in quite different places. No doubt, to summon Bernstein and Sondheim once again, "something's coming" —— but, believe me, it may not be what we expect.
Once upon a time people who called themselves "liberal" would welcome the sight of millions of people being freed from oppression. In fact, I remember distinctly the meme then was to dismiss every good thing America did in the world by reminding us of all of the instances when we maintained decent relations with countries which were run by dictators.
That, too, seems to have gone the way of the "Arab street" now that we have an Administration which has dared to act on principle and upset the status quo which bred misery and terrorism and established that the desire for freedom is universal.
Cohen's readers , of course, must be astonished at what is happening After all as late as September 11, 2003 he warned them:
In diplomacy, in foreign affairs, in the waging of war and maybe in protecting America, he has made mistake after mistake. Like Henry Ford II, he may never complain and he may never explain. But when you look back, there's still a wreck in the road.
He was wrong, of course, but continuing hope for failure in this grand enterprise is all he's left with.
Clarice Feldman 3 1 05
