Leadership

Excellent piece on why we need to lead our friends to Baghdad rather than trying to guess which way the parade is going and jump in front. Our friends don’t want to get in front of us since we are doing the heavy lifting. If we don’t invade, they will pay for supportive talk now. They will follow when we go to Baghdad, despite all the doubting chatter now. Listening to foreign doubts now and acting on them would be a mistake, as so many who claim we must “listen” to our allies, and halt our war plans, advocate. Have they learned nothing from Kosovo, from withdrawing from the ABM treaty, from the war against the Taliban? Nervous predictions of diplomatic isolation are followed by support when we act correctly. Always listen to our allies and take their counsel into consideration; but don’t be hamstrung by their fears. They are weak and right to fear getting ahead of us. Indeed, I imagine they would be shocked if we stood down and did nothing.

We will have our allies in the war against Baghdad. A superpower must lead. The rest will follow.