Text 1361, 102 rader
Skriven 2004-08-19 13:46:26 av Alan Hess
Ärende: "sensitivity"
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http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bal-op.page19aug19,0,6100638.story?co
ll=bal-pe-opinion
Bush and Cheney exhibit 'sensitive' side, too


By Clarence Page

August 19, 2004

WASHINGTON -- A "more sensitive" war on terror? That's a joke, except when Team
Bush wants to have one.

Such is the not-so-subtle message in Vice President Dick Cheney's ridicule of
Sen. John Kerry's call for a "more sensitive" war on terror.

"America has been in too many wars for any of our wishes, but not a one of them
was won by being sensitive," Mr. Cheney told Bush supporters in Dayton, Ohio
last week.

"A sensitive war will not destroy the evil men who killed 3,000 Americans. ...
The men who beheaded [U.S. citizens] Daniel Pearl and Paul Johnson will not be
impressed by our sensitivity."

Mr. Cheney's implied message to a crowd heavy with men and women who, unlike
Mr. Cheney, are military veterans, was that war vet Kerry sounds like a wuss
compared to the fearless men and women of Team Bush. Was Mr. Cheney right about
Mr. Kerry? Or, astonishing as it may be to comprehend, was he quoting Mr. Kerry
out of context? I report, you decide:

Mr. Cheney was referring to Mr. Kerry's recent statement at the UNITY
convention for journalists of color in Washington. In context, Mr. Kerry, the
Democratic presidential nominee, said: "I believe I can fight a more effective,
more thoughtful, more strategic, more proactive, more sensitive war on terror
that reaches out to other nations and brings them to our side and lives up to
American values in history."

Got that? Mr. Kerry called for a "more effective, more thoughtful, more
strategic, more proactive" war on terror, as well as "more sensitive," the
adjective upon which Mr. Cheney chose to whale away.

"Those who threaten us and kill innocents around the world do not need to be
treated more sensitively," Mr. Cheney also said, triggering applause. "They
need to be destroyed." Sage words from a man who said on national television
that triumphant American troops would be greeted with flowers in the streets of
Iraq.

Our troops are still waiting for those flowers.

"As our opponents see it," Mr. Cheney said, "the problem isn't the thugs and
murderers that we face, but it is somehow our attitude. We, the American
people, know better."

If so, one wonders if one of those American people is Mr. Cheney's superior,
President Bush, who just happened to speak at the same UNITY convention a day
after Mr. Kerry. In answer to a question there, Mr. Bush said, "Now, in terms
of, you know, the balance between running down intelligence and bringing people
to justice, obviously we need to be very sensitive on that," emphasizing the
S-word.

Is the vice president calling his boss a wuss? Or does Mr. Cheney not pay much
attention to what his boss actually says about foreign policy?

Or, for that matter, does Mr. Cheney pay much attention to what Mr. Cheney says
about foreign policy? I raise that question because Mr. Cheney spoke on
conservative Hugh Hewitt's syndicated radio show about how, in the siege of the
Imam Ali mosque in Najaf, the mosque "is a sensitive area and we are very much
aware of its sensitivity."

That's reassuring. As Mr. Kerry was trying to say, a little sensitivity goes a
long way. In its hasty run-up to war with Iraq, U.S. missteps show a need for
this nation to be more "sensitive," not to its enemies but to its allies
instead of throwing American might, money, men and women into battle alone or
nearly alone. (Let's raise a glass, shall we, to Iceland, Honduras, the
Marshall Islands and the rest of our mighty coalition of the willing.)

Against all threats, real or perceived, America needs the sort of leadership
that brings other nations along with us as effective partners. That's how the
elder President George Bush built a truly strong coalition to chase Saddam
Hussein out of Kuwait.

As candidate Bush said during a 2000 presidential debate with Vice President Al
Gore, "If we're an arrogant nation, they'll resent us; if we're a humble
nation, but strong, they'll welcome us. And our nation stands alone right now
in the world in terms of power, and that's why we've got to be humble, and yet
project strength in a way that promotes freedom."

I can hardly improve on that. America does not need to seek a "permission
slip," as Mr. Bush more recently put it, from anyone, but we should seek the
cooperation of everyone. Whether Mr. Bush or Mr. Kerry wins the November
contest, it is not enough simply to show our neighbors, enemies and allies
alike, how tough we are. Our neighbors have received that message, but we
should not always expect them to love us for it.

Clarence Page is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune, a Tribune Publishing
newspaper. His column appears Thursdays in The Sun.

Copyright + 2004, The Baltimore Sun

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