Clinton Has Failed at Foreign Affairs
Linda Bowles
March 23, 1999
When historians write about Bill Clinton's presidency, the second thing they will mention are the high crimes and misdemeanors he committed to cover up his sexual predation. The first thing they will mention is that he squandered a glorious, once-in-a-century opportunity by failing to develop a comprehensive strategy for dealing with the post-Cold-War world.
In a recent Gallup poll taken for the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, Americans ranked William Jefferson Clinton first among post World War II presidents in handling foreign affairs.
Reading that result yields an insight into what must have been the mind-set of the famous war correspondent William L. Shirer when he observed, ""Perhaps America will one day go fascist democratically, by popular vote."
The Clinton foreign affairs record is one of serious blunders and dangerous miscalculations. Since 1992, we have degraded national defenses, sissified our military, opened our borders to drug dealers, armed our enemies, alienated our allies, coddled tyrants, nurtured another "evil empire," provoked nuclear proliferation, and precipitated Cold War II.
Sixteen years ago, President Ronald Reagan proposed a Strategic Defense Initiative to protect America from nuclear attack. Democrats scoffed at the proposal, calling it "Star Wars." They have fought the idea ever since.
A missile-defense bill was vetoed by Clinton in 1995, and in May of last year, senate Democrats used a filibuster to defeat the "American Missile Protection Act of 1998."
In March of this year, the Clinton administration abruptly changed its policy and now supports a missile-defense program. The reason for the change is obvious. It is political damage control. It is based on the recognition that a chilling truth can no longer be hidden from the American people: The nuclear genie has escaped the bottle. On Clinton's watch, the world has become an infinitely more dangerous place -- and we are vulnerable.
There is no longer any reasonable doubt that, by hook or crook, advanced nuclear and missile technology has moved from our government research laboratories into the hands of the Chinese. Our lax practices and policies have enabled them to hit us and hit us effectively with nuclear missiles -- at least 10 years sooner than they might have otherwise.
Last August, North Korea, an ally of China, flew a three-stage rocket over Japan, demonstrating the ability to strike our troops in South Korea and probably targets in North America as well.
Last year, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld reported the results of a bipartisan study. He warned that a number of rogue countries, including Iraq and Iran, could strike America with ballistic missiles within the next six years.
Recently, India shocked us by conducting nuclear tests. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was outspokenly clear that India was threatened as it watched nuclear and missile technology transferred from America to China and from China to Pakistan and Iran.
It is hard to define the underlying philosophy that gives direction to our foreign policy. During the early years of the Cold War, many liberals foolishly argued that the best way to have peace with the Russians was to allow them to gain military and nuclear parity with us so they wouldn't feel threatened. Is that loony idea still alive and fermenting somewhere in the back rooms of the State Department? Is that why we are appeasing China?
And is it some offshoot of globalist, one-world thinking that causes us to believe we have the right and, indeed, the duty to intervene by force of arms in the affairs of other countries, correct their misbehavior, and impose our thinking upon them?
Whatever the reason, Clinton has succumbed to the temptation to use the American military as the world's "policeman."
To illustrate our folly, we sent thousands of troops and spent billions to "uphold democracy" in Haiti. The results are in. Haiti is, if possible, worse off than before we rescued them. Political murder is commonplace. Foreign investments have dried up due to the disorder and lawlessness. Voter turnout has dropped from 90 percent before the invasion to 5 percent in the last election. In 1998, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted 1,206 Haitians at sea trying to escape that wretched country, up from 587 in 1997.
We invaded Haiti, declared victory, and left 500 soldiers there to pick up garbage. We didn't follow through or follow up. That is the pattern. That is the paradigm of our foreign policy.
We have jumped boot-first into the complicated problems of other societies and countries. As I write, we are preparing to bomb a sovereign nation, Yugoslavia, unless it submits to our plan for peace in a civil war.
The next president will have his or her hands full sorting out this mess and making corrections. In the meanwhile, Congress should force a halt to undeclared acts of war. |
