Boxer Rejects Talk of War, First Strikes
U.S. Losing Its Moral Authority, She Warns In S.F.
John Wildermuth, Chronicle Political Writer
San Francisco Chronicle
Tuesday, 17 December, 2002
The Bush administration's drumbeat for war and backing for political assassination could be a long-term disaster for the country, Sen. Barbara Boxer said Monday.
"I believe we have lost the moral high ground with the talk of war, assassination and first strikes coming out of Washington," she told about 200 people at the World Affairs Council in San Francisco. "Sometimes might might have to back right, but only as a last resort."
Recent reports indicate that the administration has authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to hunt down and kill top al Qaeda leaders and terrorists, as well as suggestions that pre-emptive nuclear attacks could be used against countries and groups likely to use weapons of mass destruction.
"This is not a time for arrogance," Boxer said.
The United States has the military and political power to impose its will on the rest of the world, she said, but only at the cost of sowing seeds of resentment, even among our allies.
"We have led the world not only because of our military strength, but also because of the strength of our ideas and ideals," Boxer said.
The United States must work more closely with allies and international agencies such as the United Nations to deal with issues ranging from terrorism and women's rights to environmental protection and disease control, she said.
"If we stand tall, but alone . . . then we will have missed the unprecedented opportunity that stands before us," she said.
Boxer, one of the Senate's most liberal Democratic members, was preaching to the choir in her talk on Monday. She was interrupted by loud applause when it was mentioned that she voted earlier this year against giving President Bush the authority to wage war in Iraq and was given a standing ovation at the end of her speech.
"I didn't go to the U.S. Senate to be a rubber stamp for any president," she said.
"I'm doing everything I can to ensure that the devastation . . . of war is avoided and that disarmament (of Iraq) is achieved," she added.
Suggestions that an attack on Iraq could quickly remove a threat to the country's security miss the point, Boxer said.
"I don't care what (war) scenario you set, two days, 10 days or 30 days. It's brutal, it's harsh and innocent people will die," she said. "Environments will be destroyed."
But while an anti-war, anti-Bush message works in a liberal stronghold like the Bay Area, Boxer will have to sell that program to a much more diverse statewide audience when she runs for re-election in 2004.
That's not a concern, she said.
"This wasn't a speech about liberal issues, but one about American values," she told reporters after the talk. "I think it's a message that will be very well received in California."
Boxer's opposition to war and backing for women's rights and the environment have been staples of her political platform for the 20 years she has spent in the House and Senate and won't change for her re-election effort, she said.
"No one ever voted for me because they thought I would make going to war easy," she said.
In a state that voted overwhelmingly against Bush in 2000, there are plenty of Californians uncomfortable with the president's apparent willingness to go to war with Iraq without the backing of the United Nations or America's allies,
Boxer said.
"I've never seen a president, Democrat or Republican, lay out the path for war every day without setting out a plan for peace," she added. "My speech was mainstream; what we're seeing in Washington every day is extreme."
truthout.org |
