Hawks cooling down
Mickey Kaus mentions a number of "hawks" on Iraq that seems to be getting cold feet, but what I find even more interesting is the significant group of what he calls "He's-Botching-It Hawks," that is the pro-war, anti-Bush camp. That is more or less the line I've been on the whole time.
It must be worrisome that so many allies that agree with the Bush administration's basic priorities and security policies nevertheless thinks Bush has done a horrible job, needlessly alienating a lot of potential allies.
I'll concede one point to Kaus, though. It is hard to see that diplomatic finesse from the US administration would have brought the French around to the pro-war camp.
Neither would it prevent a large showing in anti-war demonstrations around the world. There was, after all, serious opposition on the left even to the Kosovo war, and Clinton was about as popular as a US president can realistically expect to be in Europe.
However, a showing of diplomacy and tact from the current administration would make Europeans that are sympathetic to the American policies, like me, less emberrassed about the fact that we have to agree with Bush.
10:41:05 PM 
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