Ira
Smolensky
Stern
resolve, sound judgment
Once upon a
time, in a move all too indicative of its unsurpassed hubris, the Bush
administration sought to adorn the current misadventure in Iraq with the
moniker of, ÒOperation Infinite Justice.Ó
The author of this grandiose (actually,
downright foolish) designation was, no doubt, a White House speech-writer who,
as a child, had seen one Ali-Baba movie too many and thought he was paying
great homage to the Koran.
In any
case, the label was soon discarded when Muslims and other pious souls protested
that infinite justice was the province of God rather than sinful humans.
As it turns
out, the nomenclature was two-thirds correct, as we find ourselves bogged down
in what could accurately be called ÒOperation Infinite War,Ó a condition which
clearly (and tragically) is well within the capabilities of humanity.
And now,
once again, the Bush administration is trotting out the issue of our national Òresolve.Ó
True, the
war was begun under false pretenses.
True, the job was botched by our fearless leaders. No matter. We must keep on fighting in order to show that Americans are
not lacking in the resolve to finish what we start.
And one can
certainly sympathize.
As they
say: no guts, no glory.
Did
Napoleon and Hitler call off their invasions of Russia just because there was a
little nip in the air? No
way. Did Mao call off the Great
Leap Forward just because a fifty million Chinese felt slightly peckish? Certainly not. Did Custer call off the operation at
Little Big Horn because the natives were a little restless? Not a chance.
These men were
brimming with stern resolve.
And they
all got their behinds kicked.
They got
their behinds kicked for one simple reason: stern resolve is no substitute for
sound judgment.
The Bush
administration has us in a terrible pickle in Iraq because, in this case, stern
resolve minus sound judgment has led to quagmire, just as many war critics
predicted.
Yet I do
believe that, in crucial ways, the national resolve is being tested and that we
are failing.
Take the
issue of education. In his State
of the Union Address, the president made only token reference to No Child Left
Behind (NCLB). That law—or,
rather, the purpose behind it-- is at least as important as the war in Iraq and
even the overall war on terror. Yet,
despite the presidentÕs lip service, countless children are being left behind
every single day.
True, there
are no daily casualty reports or patriotic funerals in the war to educate all
our kids. But lives are being
wasted, nevertheless, and there is no evidence that we will make meaningful
progress without a more sustained effort than we have so far demonstrated.
As one who
rues our lack of backbone in finishing Òthe war on povertyÓ begun in the Ô60Õs,
I unambiguously support stern resolve when it comes to educating all our
children, renewing our inner cities, and seeing that every American shares
meaningfully in the American Dream.
What
red-blooded American could possible want to cut and run from the challenge of
achieving equality?
2/08/07