Speak Loudly and Carry a Big Stick
Fareed Zakaria’s latest article seems to be zipping all over the internet. It’s being discussed on blogs, posted to chat boards, and I’ve received it via email. The writer is a regular contributor to Newsweek and usually provides balanced and insightful reading. The piece isn?t another argument for or against the war and its consequences. I actually think it would be correct to say that Zakaria supports the campaign to remove Saddam. I suspect that even those who support the administration’s goal of regime change worry about the incredibly deep rift emerging between the US and the rest of the world. As Zakaria points out, even members of the “Coalition of the Willing” cannot honestly say that a sizable amount of their citizens are behind us. (“Between 70 and 80 percent of Hungarians, Czechs and Poles are against an American war in Iraq”). I’ve been trying to reassure myself that after the surgical strike, months of discussions, visits, and hyper-diplomacy will heal wounds. And it’s not just our friends in Europe I’m talking about. We have our work cut out for us in places like Mexico (“We have studied in the United States or worked there. We like and understand America. But we find it extremely irritating to be treated with utter contempt.”). What is important is that the actual people in these countries, not just their miffed leaders, see a demonstrable concern from the Bush Administration about their interests. Zakaria’s article is exactly what I didn’t need to read to feel like this might be a reality. There are the little things that bug us: Bush’s fingernails-on-chalkboard pronunciation of nuclear as “noo-kyuh-ler” (knowing full well how to pronounce it). And there is the next level: the fact that Cheney has only ventured out of the country one time as VP, or Rumsfeld’s pedantic outbursts. Then you have things like “You’re with us or against us” and the fuzzy reversals of why we’re taking certain courses of action. Combine these examples, and then add dozens more, and you have the realm that Zakaria is dealing with here. I believe it is better to be respected than liked. But I’m deeply worried that we’re going down a path where we are disliked by our “friends,” respected by no one–and I mean no one outside of Israel, and yet not even feared by our worst enemies–terrorists who would die for their hate-filled cause.