Ted,
Consensus doesn't mean you have to get everyone agree. Just enough so that you prevent the kind of dissension we have now.
I disagree. Bush was too lazy and too eager for war to go through what was needed to get consensus. When people wouldn't follow his lead, he scared them into agreement. It worked temporarily but now its come back to haunt him.
Just to make sure we are talking about the same thing, I think we are talking about consensus with the Europeans. Bush got more or less a consensus in the US even without trying.
The consensus with Europe was unachievable, because the objective was so far reaching, and it touched on Israel. Europeans (other than the British) like to sit on their asses give advice, criticizism and do so in a safety.
Redrawing the Mid-East is just completely antithetical to this, because it involves resolve, action, commitment, danger. Second, with the rising level of anti-semitism, it is not possible to rationally discuss anything that touches on Israel with Europeans.
The threat that Saddam used to pose to Israel, how he fueled the Palestinian conclict, how that in turn fuels the militant islamist who crashed planes into our buildings is hard enough to explain to someone as receptive as I am.
The long version was obviously not going to work, since in retrospect, we know that even the short version of wmd (which everyone including Saddam was convinced that existed in Iraq) and violations of UN resolutions.
And forget the torturous and murderous reign of Saddam. Europeans couldn't give a rat's ass about that.
Well, let's face it. If Saddam did his thing inside the privacy of his own country, without sticking like a sore thumb, pointing at the US and Israel, we wouldn't give a rat's ass about him either.
I don't think so but then, I don't know English politics as well as you seem to do. The conservative leader doesn't seem to have the charisma of a Blair. Its seems the Liberal Democrats are gaining popularity but I don't know why other than people are unhappy with Blair.
I used to follow British politics in the past, but with Blair, and his sharp term to the pragmatic center, the Tories leaderless, co-opted, British politics wasn't much of a spectator sport lately, I guess not until now, which is why I said that i may pay some more attention to it in the future.
Joe |
