7/18/2004 12:07:37 PM|||Nathan Moore|||

Slate's Fred Kaplan still does not get it
 
The key failure is that Bush said nothing—and has planned nothing—about devising a general international policy toward nonproliferation. Police enforcement can go only so far. An effective policy must deal with the reasons certain nations want to go nuclear—and the incentives, as well as the punishments, that might deter them from doing so.
 
Once more, it is up to us to search for "root causes," besides, of course, for the obvious reason why Islamist regimes wish our demise -  simply that we exist and we are free.   His anaylsis concludes that credible force and negotiation are mutually exclusive concepts, each existing in its own vacuum.  This formula is contrary to history and contrary to common sense.  
 
His quip about Iraqis wanting to leave Iraq means little, save that now, since American involvement, Iraqis are now free to leave Iraq. Prior to the liberation, they could not leave through legal means - they could only escape.  Further, such a jab demonstrates a certain lack of perspective.  When viewed through the lens of other reconstruction efforts, the postwar recovery in Iraq is moving along rather nicely.  Jobs will come as stability takes hold.  Taking back the country is beyond the insurgents capability.  That stability is just around the corner. 
 
Anyone who thinks that the removal of Saddam Hussein, the removal of the Taliban, and the surrender of quantities of loose uranium from Libya does not make the world safer lives in a partisan fantasy world.  Mr. Kaplan plays the role of Willy Wonka quite well.

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