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"A Perilous Passage"
Seattle Times Editorial - January 21, 2005
Used with Permission - seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/

It was an eloquent and perilous inaugural. The central idea, which the American people ought to think about, was that "America's vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one."

Interests and beliefs are different. In 2000, President George W. Bush outlined a foreign policy based mostly on interests. That did not need to be thrown out on account of the 9/11 attacks, but it was.

"It is the policy of the United States," the president said yesterday, "to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world."

He has the ideals right. We favor freedom and democracy in every nation and culture that wants them — in Mexico and Spain, South Korea, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other places. This is the hope of our hearts and, in a diffuse way, in our interest. But it is not "the urgent requirement of our nation's security."

In parts of his speech, Bush sounded like John Kennedy, who said at his inaugural, "We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty."

Everyone knew Kennedy was talking about Russia. That defined what Kennedy meant, and to define a thing is to limit it. We knew what the Cold War consisted of and when it was over. This war now could be endless.

In his speech, the president promised to "persistently clarify the choice" between liberty and oppression "before every ruler and every nation." That is a crusading doctrine. It does not admit humility or doubt. The president made reference to being collegial and diplomatic, but the doctrine is neither. Followed consistently, it is impossible; it would stretch our blood and dollars too thin. Therefore it will be followed inconsistently.

It invites inconsistency at home. Liberty is a doctrine of constitutional rights, restrained government and the rule of law. Always, these values are compromised during war.

The current administration has asserted the right to treat prisoners in defiance of the Geneva Conventions and to hold citizens indefinitely without trial. It has proclaimed that the Constitution does not apply at Guantαnamo Bay. A cynic might ask whether, having spread liberty to the world, we would have any of it left for ourselves.

We are not cynics about liberty and democracy. We are for them, for defending our own and for promoting them abroad when it is wise to do so. But we are not ready to say, "America's vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one."

That is a doctrine too permissive of war, and from this president we have had already one too many.