Democrat presidential candidate Howard Dean made a speech recently in which he revealed who he thinks should control American military interventions.
Dean said he "would not have hesitated" to launch an attack on Iraq "had the United Nations given us permission and asked us to be part of a multilateral force."
In other words, in matters of self defense, Dean expects the U.S. to ask permission from an organization that harbors the dictators and tyrants from whom we seek to defend ourselves. (Saddam's Iraq was a U.N. member).
But Dean wasn't the first candidate to tout his willingness to sacrifice America's sovereignty to other nations. There was also this comment from Wesley Clark.
Well, if I were president right now, I would be doing things that George Bush can’t do right now, because he’s already compromised those international bridges. I would go to Europe and I would build a new Atlantic charter. I would say to the Europeans, you know, we’ve had our differences over the years, but we need you. The real foundation for peace and stability in the world is the transatlantic alliance. And I would say to the Europeans, I pledge to you as the American president that we’ll consult with you first. You get the right of first refusal on the security concerns that we have. We’ll bring you in. [Emphasis added]
Can you imagine France and Germany agreeing to let us attack any terrorist-sponsoring nation? Of course not. And that's exactly the goal of Clark and Dean: to humble the American giant before the world. Bush certainly has his multilaterist tendency that are cause for great concern. But these two would apparently relinquish control of our military as a matter of principle.
(Stories via two Little Green Footballs posts found here and here)
Posted by Forkum at December 18, 2003 07:55 AM
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