( David Cameron's Clinton-like triangulation continues.) Posted on September 12, 2006: Britain's Conservative Party leader, David Cameron, made a few good points in a foreign policy speech delivered yesterday. But it was also a bit confusing on substance at times. The prospective British PM said, for example, that he supported the ouster of Saddam but then went on to quote a line from Democratic Senator Joe Biden about the perils of invading Iraq "virtually alone." In March 2003, Prime Minister Blair made the tough decision to go into Iraq because the UN Security Council refused to enforce its own resolutions. Does Cameron now believe we should have left Saddam in power and pursued a policy of containment? Should Bush and Blair have waited until the French were onboard? He didn't say. Cameron also noted: "Foreign policy decisions are not black and white, something which the public well understands." The process of arriving at a decision may not be "black and white" in most cases, but making it surely is. To govern is to choose. Prime Minister Thatcher (who visited the White House yesterday) faced a choice: order the fleet to the Falklands or keep it away. She then faced another decision: to attack or not attack Argentine forces. John Major's government had a choice: confront Serbian aggression early on in the Balkans or sit back. I suspect a Prime Minster Cameron may also have to make tough "black and white" decisions on Iran's nuclear program, ethnic cleansing and genocide, and other issues off today's radar screen. Should that time arrive, he may even gain a greater appreciation for the steadfastness of Tony Blair, a good friend of America who, in the face of withering criticism at home and abroad, didn't " go wobbly" on us in Iraq .
Daniel McKivergan
(Update) To Govern is to Choose
(David Cameron's Clinton-like triangulation continues.) Posted on September 12, 2006: Britain's Conservative Party leader, David Cameron, made a few good points in a foreign policy speech delivered yesterday. But it was also a bit confusing on substance at times. The prospective British PM said,…
Daniel McKivergan · September 16, 2006
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