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April
4,
2002, 2:35 p.m.
Conservatives
to Bush
Don’t
go wobbly. |
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EDITOR’S
NOTE: This letter was sent to the White House today from the Project
for the New American Century.
April
3, 2002
The
Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States
Washington, DC
 ear
Mr. President:
We write to thank you for your courageous leadership in the war on terrorism
and to offer our full support as you continue to protect the security and
well-being of Americans and all freedom-loving peoples around the world.
In particular, we want to commend you for your strong stance in support
of the Israeli government as it engages in the present campaign to fight
terrorism. As a liberal democracy under repeated attack by murderers who
target civilians, Israel now needs and deserves steadfast support. This
support, moreover, is essential to Israel's continued survival as a free
and democratic nation, for only the United States has the power and influence
to provide meaningful assistance to our besieged ally. And with the memory
of the terrorist attack of September 11 still seared in our minds and hearts,
we Americans ought to be especially eager to show our solidarity in word
and deed with a fellow victim of terrorist violence.
No one should doubt that the United States and Israel share a common enemy.
We are both targets of what you have correctly called an "Axis of Evil."
Israel is targeted in part because it is our friend, and in part because
it is an island of liberal, democratic principles — American principles
— in a sea of tyranny, intolerance, and hatred. As Secretary of Defense
Rumsfeld has pointed out, Iran, Iraq, and Syria are all engaged in "inspiring
and financing a culture of political murder and suicide bombing" against
Israel, just as they have aided campaigns of terrorism against the United
States over the past two decades. You have declared war on international
terrorism, Mr. President. Israel is fighting the same war.
This central truth has important implications for any Middle East peace
process. For one spoke of the terrorist network consists of Yasser Arafat
and the leadership of the Palestinian Authority. Although your critics in
the United States, Europe and the Arab world suggest that you and your administration
bear some responsibility for the lack of political progress between Israel
and the Palestinians, they are mistaken. As Secretary of State Powell recently
stated, the present crisis stems not from "the absence of a political
way forward" but from "terrorism..., terrorism in its rawest form."
That terrorism has been aided, abetted, harbored, and in many instances
directed by Mr. Arafat and his top lieutenants. Mr. Arafat has demonstrated
time and again that he cannot be part of the peaceful solution of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. He demonstrated it in July 2000, when he rejected the most generous
Israeli peace offer in history; he demonstrated it in September 2000, when
he launched the new intifada against Israel; and he demonstrated it again
these past two weeks when, despite the hand you offered him, through Vice
President Cheney, he gave sanction to some of the worst terrorist violence
against Israeli citizens.
It
is true that the United States has a leading role to play in the Middle
East and, potentially, in resolving the conflict between Israel and the
Palestinians. But it is critical that negotiations not be the product
of terrorism or conducted under the threat of terrorist attack. This would
send a most dangerous signal to our adversaries that civilized states
do not have the necessary courage to fight terrorism in all its forms.
Mr. President, it can no longer be the policy of the United States to
urge, much less to pressure, Israel to continue negotiating with Arafat,
any more than we would be willing to be pressured to negotiate with Osama
Bin Laden or Mullah Omar. Nor should the United States provide financial
support to a Palestinian Authority that acts as a cog in the machine of
Middle East terrorism, any more than we would approve of others providing
assistance to Al Qaeda.
Instead, the United States should lend its full support to Israel as it
seeks to root out the terrorist network that daily threatens the lives
of Israeli citizens. Like our own efforts in Afghanistan and elsewhere,
Israel's task will not be easy. It will not be accomplished quickly, or
painlessly. But with fortitude, on our part as well on the part of the
Israeli people, it can succeed in significantly reducing the risk of future
terrorist attacks against Israel and against us. And, in so doing, we
will give the Palestinian people a chance they have so far not had under
Arafat's rule — an opportunity to construct a political culture and
government that do not marry their national and religious aspirations
with suicide bombers.
Furthermore, Mr. President, we urge you to accelerate plans for removing
Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq. As you have said, every day that Saddam
Hussein remains in power brings closer the day when terrorists will have
not just airplanes with which to attack us, but chemical, biological,
or nuclear weapons, as well. It is now common knowledge that Saddam, along
with Iran, is a funder and supporter of terrorism against Israel. Iraq
has harbored terrorists such as Abu Nidal in the past, and it maintains
links to the Al Qaeda network. If we do not move against Saddam Hussein
and his regime, the damage our Israeli friends and we have suffered until
now may someday appear but a prelude to much greater horrors. Moreover,
we believe that the surest path to peace in the Middle East lies not through
the appeasement of Saddam and other local tyrants, but through a renewed
commitment on our part, as you suggested in your State of the Union address,
to the birth of freedom and democratic government in the Islamic world.
Mr. President, in that address, you put forth a most compelling vision
of a world at peace, free from the threat of terrorism, where freedom
flourishes. The strength of that vision lies in its moral clarity and
consistency. In the war on terrorism, we cannot condemn some terrorists
while claiming that other terrorists are potential partners for peace.
We cannot help some allies under siege, while urging others to compromise
their fundamental security. As you eloquently stated: "Our enemies
send other people's children on missions of suicide and murder. They embrace
tyranny and death as a cause and a creed. We stand for a different choice,
made long ago, on the day of our founding. We affirm it again today."
Israel's fight against terrorism is our fight. Israel's victory is an
important part of our victory. For reasons both moral and strategic, we
need to stand with Israel in its fight against terrorism.
Sincerely,
William Kristol
Ken Adelman, Gary Bauer, Jeffrey Bell, William J. Bennett, Ellen Bork,
Eliot Cohen, Midge Decter, Thomas Donnelly, Nicholas Eberstadt, Hillel
Fradkin, Reuel Marc Gerecht, Charles Hill, Bruce P. Jackson, Donald Kagan,
Robert Kagan, Rich Lowry, Clifford May, Joshua Muravchik, Martin Peretz,
Richard Perle, Daniel Pipes, Norman Podhoretz, Stephen P. Rosen, Randy
Scheunemann, Gary Schmitt, William Schneider, Jr., Marshall Wittmann,
R. James Woolsey
(Signature Page Still Open)
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