A shadow no bigger than Condi's hand
melaniephillips.com
The news that President Bush has nominated Paul Wolfowitz to run the World Bank has sent the appeasement crowd into a frenzy. Hardly had they got over the shock that John Bolton, the abrasive UN critic, had been appointed ambassador to that nest of vipers than the intellectual architect of the Iraq war himself was now being put up to run international development. The idea that, as a result, the tyrants and dictators who have used the UN to foment global terror might be held to account for the first time, and that international aid might no longer be used to line the pockets of said tyrants and dictators thus financing said global terror, is regarded of course by the appeasement crowd as the end of the world as they know it. Cause for a double dose of garlic to wave in the direction of these iconic princelings of darkness. The Guardian's leader contains a particularly priceless observation:
'Some worry that his strong emphasis on human rights may complicate relations with China.'
Thus the 'progressive' position on tyranny and oppression.
However, grimly amusing as this spectacle is, the political reality behind these appointments may be less felicitous. For the reason that Messrs Bolton and Wolfowitz are being lined up for these appointments, however prestigious they are, is that their progress has been blocked at home. Wolfowitz was passed over for the post that he wanted of National Security Adviser; Bolton was passed over for the post he wanted of deputy Secretary of State. And who was the person who passed them over? Reportedly, none other than the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.
It is customary to assume that Dr Rice is of the same mind as her boss. When she was appointed Secretary of state, therefore, the word among the garlic-wavers was that the State Department was shuddering in its boots at the arrival of the warmonger-in-chief's aide de camp. My view is that this is seriously to misunderestimate Dr Rice. She is the quintessential loyal servant of the President. What the President wants, she delivers. But she has an agenda of her own, as we saw from her eyebrow-raising comments about the desirability of a single EU foreign minister and now from the blockage of Bolton and Wolfowitz. I suspect she is nearer to the State Department view of the world than people might think, although she is smart enough to conceal it pretty effectively. My guess is that she will take whatever opportunity she can to nudge the President ever so gently in the wrong direction. And with Wolfowitz and Bolton out of the way, it will surely be easier to do so.
After all, although the President has undoubtedly got the big issues right, he seems to have done so through gut instinct and a moral code rooted in his religious faith. But there is a very great deal he simply doesn't know. He therefore depends very greatly on the moral clarity and steadfastness of his advisers; and if that is in short supply, he may well be manoeuvred into initiatives which actually run against the principles he has enunciated.
It's currently a shadow no bigger than Dr Rice's hand. But it may grow into something far more alarming. |
