Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 30, 1993 TAG: 9309010278
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A necessary, commendable act. But worth celebrating?
Let us assume, as the U.S. government asserts, that the evidence of the plot, and of Iraqi intelligence's directing role, is ``compelling.''
Let us agree, as President Clinton suggests, that a message needed to be sent ``to deter further violence against our people and to affirm the expectation of civilized behavior among nations.''
This was a strong message - that attacks on Americans won't be tolerated. And it didn't hurt that the message was sent shortly after the arrests of several suspects last week in an apparent dastardly scheme to bomb New York City landmarks.
You can't let people get away with trying to kill a former U.S. president or mounting terrorist campaigns against America.
Unseemly, even so, is much of the political analysis in the wake of the missile strike - all the talk about Clinton finally showing firmness to counter the impression of indecisiveness that had lodged in the public mind.
What, the pundits ponder, will be the effect on popularity poll ratings for a president who avoided the draft, wants gays in uniform, and has a reputation for softness?
Unseemly, too, is the ease with which some military missions are mounted these days. Bosnia is off-limits for intervention; it's too hard. But sending a few Tomahawks puts no Americans in immediate peril, so is easy as pie politically.
No one talks about congressional declarations of war anymore; few lament that violence remains such a ready recourse of statecraft.
Yes, this was a necessary response to loathsome terrorism. Yes, it is particularly gratifying that the punishment so closely fit the crime - largely destroying the intelligence headquarters where, according to U.S. officials, Iraqis plotted to kill Bush during his visit to Kuwait in April.
If the missile strike was a good thing for all these reasons, it still isn't something that should make Americans feel warm and fuzzy all over, or that should send Clinton's poll ratings soaring.
``Don't tread on us'' ought to be stated matter-of-factly, not with bluster and a swagger and a spasm of self-congratulation.
President Bush, whose poll ratings jumped after Desert Storm, is one who could remind Clinton of the dangers of tying political fortunes to military success.
Let's simply say that America did what we had to. It's OK, if regrettable, that we killed some people in the process. But this was a show of grim determination, not an occasion for chest-beating celebration.
by CNB