Bush Employs the (Real) Reagan Doctrine: Negotiating With Terrorists Now A-O.K.

So now we're negotiating with terrorists. (Remember: how conservatives used to whine about the term 'insurgents,' arguing that they should simply be called 'terrorists'?) This is the real Reagan Doctrine. Since the Democrats irresponsibly chose not to impeach him, I sometimes fear that people will forget that this is the most significant part of Reagan's legacy.

Although Iran-Contra does have to compete for primacy with Reagan's decision to turn tail and run after the bombing of the marine barracks in Beirut in '83. That decision, after all, by the supposedly resolute Reagan is said to be often cited by terrorists as evidence of America's glass jaw.

So, here's the real Bush doctrine: refuse to negotiate with your allies, then, as a consequence, get yourself into such a mess that you have to negotiate with terrorists.

Brilliant.

I try to be restrained in my criticisms of the Administration, I really do, but at every turn they seem to find new ways to amaze me with their incompetence and duplicity. I am a very firm believer in Roosevelt's advice (allegedly originally a West African saying) to speak softly but carry a big stick. The problem with certain prominent of my lifetime--Reagan and Bush '43, for example, though by no means Bush '41--is that they speak loudly and don't know how to use the stick they've got. Bush '43 likes to play up his cowboy demeanor--he had no trouble strutting us into this mess--but when things get tough, he apparently wimps out.

Oddly enough, I would have preferred to attack the actual terrorists who actually attacked us--al Qaeda--wiped them out, and been done with it. After that was taken care of and there was no doubt in anyone's mind anywhere that attacking the U.S. would bring swift and certain destruction, I would have then preferred that we seriously address the problem of Saddam's human rights abuses.

But, hey, nobody listens us us in the reality-based community...