The hole in the USS Cole is more than the result of a terrorist act. It is the result of something the Clinton/Gore administration doesn’t want to recognize, namely the total failure of this country’s foreign policy in the Middle East.
It is easy enough to call it a terrorist act and let it go at that.
But why are these terrorist acts directed primarily at the United States?
In their second debate, Gov. George W. Bush put his finger on two of the reasons for the failure of the administration’s foreign policy in this and other regions. First, as the most powerful nation, we need to approach our foreign policy with some humility. Second, it is not our role to insist that every nation adopt our form of government. He also said that we could not respond to every need throughout the world.
Both candidates indicated that this country stood behind Israel and agreed with that position. Today, unfortunately, that appears to be a necessary political position.
But then, carried away by some strange sense of euphoria, Vice President Al Gore sought to heap praise on the administration’s Middle East foreign policy by virtue of its being an “honest broker” in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. This claim would be laughable were it not for the seriousness of its import. It reflects either a naivete with respect to foreign policy and how to influence people, or it means that candidate Gore doesn’t have any concept of what a conflict of interest is. Either way, his election would not bode well for this nation’s foreign policy and we could expect a continuation of terrorist attacks.
