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of my colleagues recently muttered, "Colin Powell's gonna get
us all killed," and the events of the past weekend show exactly
how dangerous our traditional diplomacy can be. The spectacular
Israeli seizure of the ship full of high-powered weaponry headed
for PLO warlords not only wrecked the last remnants of Yasser Arafat's
grand deception that presented him as a peacemaker, but also showed
the true dimensions of the terror network.
That ship was
traveling from Dubai to the Palestinian Authority, and Dubai is
one of Iran's most important operational centers outside the motherland.
Those who care to know such things have long been aware that the
two most murderous leaders of the Islamic Republic, Rafsanjani and
Rafiqdust, spend considerable time in Dubai, from which Iranians
run weapons shipments throughout the region, smuggle Iraqi oil to
market, and transfer billions of dollars to their overseas operatives
(as well as to their private financial empires in Western Europe,
North Africa, and elsewhere in the Middle East). There are more
than 40 flights per day between Dubai and Iran, in addition to the
countless voyages of ships of the sort captured by Israeli forces.
Some sensible individuals in our government have suggested that
we interdict some of these ships, by the way, but the usual wimpish
lawyers and professional conflict resolvers warned that such operations
might not meet with the full approval of some of our most advanced
law schools.
All of which
brings to mind Winston Churchill's dictum that it is outrageous
to hold ourselves to the narrowest possible interpretation of the
law while we fight against enemies who, if victorious, will destroy
any hope of a world based on law.
Yet our diplomats
are fighting desperately with their more realistic colleagues in
the Bush administration to include Iran in the Grand Coalition Against
Terror, a concept rather like that of bringing Bulgaria into NATO
at the height of the Cold War. But then, people still capable of
believing that Arafat is a worthy peace partner can believe anything,
can't they? And so, on Sunday, the news duly reported that the State
Department was unconvinced that the Iranian weapons shipment was
destined for the PLO, even though the ship had a PLO captain and
Israeli interrogators produced evidence so convincing that Israel's
Deputy Prime Minister Natan Sharansky, an extraordinarily thoughtful
and reasonable man, declared that the Oslo Agreements were no longer
valid, and called upon Western nations to stop all financial assistance
to the Palestinian Authority.
At virtually
the same time the State Department was whitewashing the latest evidence
of Iranian and Palestinian culpability in international terrorism,
it moved brazenly to deprive the Iraqi National Congress —
a democratic organization devoted to the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's
oppressive tyranny — of all financial support from the United
States, on the preposterous grounds that the INC's accounting practices
had been deemed unsatisfactory by the green eyeshade crowd at Foggy
Bottom. This flimsy excuse fools no one, since State's hostility
to the INC has been luminously clear for quite a while. Prior to
this charade, State had dribbled out a tiny fraction of the funds
allocated by Congress, but insisted that the INC couldn't use any
of the money for operations inside Iraq, a masterstroke of strategic
buffoonery that guaranteed nothing effective would be accomplished.
If Congress
were serious about taking the war to Iraq — and no more suitable
target can be imagined — it would demand that Secretary Powell
explain in detail why the State Department's leaders should not
be held in contempt of Congress. Both houses have voted overwhelmingly
to fully support the INC's campaign against Saddam, and they have
appropriated tens of millions of dollars to make sure it's done
effectively. If State doesn't like the INC's bookkeeping practices,
they can appoint their own accountants to maintain proper ledgers,
but our diplomats are not entitled to thwart legislation voted by
the duly elected representatives of the American people.
I have no doubt
that, in time, we will deliver proper support to Saddam's enemies,
and also show our contempt for the leaders of Iran by endorsing
the cries of the Iranian people for freedom and democracy. But we
are losing valuable time, and thereby giving the terror states the
opportunity to regroup after their humiliation in Afghanistan. The
intelligence community is awash with serious indications that the
terrorists are hard at work on new operations against us and our
friends. It is much easier for them to plot their evil schemes while
their supporters in places like Baghdad and Teheran are playing
diplomatic games with the United States instead of diving for cover
in their underground havens.
President Bush
has given his foreign-policy experts more than enough time to debate
the fine points, and the real world has produced spectacular evidence
that the diplomats have got it wrong. It's time for the next battles
in the war against terrorism, and they must be waged against Iraq,
Iran, and the PLO. Once those battles have been won, the new leaders
— God willing, democratic and freedom-loving leaders —
will make our diplomatic work much easier.
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