SPRING CLEANING:

U.S. SNIPERS FINISH 9 TALIBAN (NY Post, March 7, 2004)

U.S. Special Operations snipers killed nine suspected Taliban militants in the Afghan mountains bordering Pakistan, the military said yesterday, marking one of American forces' deadliest engagements in months.

The military would not say if the clash marked the start of a promised spring offensive to capture Osama bin Laden, although a spokesman said the fighting began when as many as 40 suspected Taliban tried to flank the position held by the Americans and their Afghan army allies.

John Kerry would have done it sooner, with UN permission, and with French assistance. Except that he'd be waiting for the perfect moment to start.

MORE:
Kerry Dots Deliberation With Decision (Laura Blumenfeld, March 7, 2004, Washington Post)

John Kerry cliché No. 1: The single-engine plane plunged toward the Nevada desert. The pilot had tried a barrel roll and miscalculated. Ten thousand feet, six thousand feet, two thousand feet and falling. Young Kerry, sitting next to the pilot, reached for the controls. "Give it to me," Kerry said over the scream of the engine. He pulled the airplane out of the dive.

Kerry cliché No. 2: About 30 years later, in his office at 2 a.m., Sen. Kerry hovered over a dictionary, torn between two words: "Is it 'venal'? Or 'venial'?" Hours before he would deliver his Senate floor statement on President Bill Clinton's impeachment, Kerry was stuck in the V's, trying to decide.

Both stories, though cartoonish, actually happened. They are part of the lore that paints Kerry as alternately too rash or too cautious. Conventional wisdom has tried to reconcile the apparent contradiction with words such as "complex." But a closer examination of his style, based on dozens of interviews, shows that he makes decisions with simple consistency. He researches and analyzes aggressively before choosing. He always deliberates, even if only for a second. What differs in each case is how close he is to the ground.

"It's the deadline thing," said Cameron Kerry, his brother. "He's not going to act when he doesn't need to. He's incredibly decisive when he needs to be."

Kerry's decision-making has drawn both criticism and praise. Republicans and Democratic detractors have portrayed him as a chronic wobbler. In a recent speech, President Bush described a would-be Kerry administration as "uncertain in the face of danger," in contrast to the current administration's "strength and confidence."

Now that Kerry has effectively won the Democratic presidential nomination, strategists say, his executive skills will come under scrutiny in a campaign against an opponent whose seemingly snap decision-making has been noted.

Kerry's supporters say his approach is nuanced and thorough, better for tackling complicated issues such as the economy and the war on terrorism. Far from paralyzing, they say, it is what makes his argument compelling.

"George Bush is, 'I know what's right, and I know what's wrong,' regardless of the nature of reality," said Jonathan Winer, Kerry's counsel from 1983 to 1994. "John takes the opposite approach: 'Don't assume you know where I am. Don't assume I know what I think. We'll talk it through.' It's a deliberate suspension."

Kerry is a man who studies the menu at restaurants, even when he knows what he's going to order. Entering a room, he pauses and looks around, as if to weigh his options. He is so fond of the phrase "tough choices" that Senate staffers routinely inserted it in his speeches because they knew he would say it anyway.

A study of three tough choices -- one military, one political, one personal -- offers a glimpse into Kerry's deciding mind.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 7, 2004 9:43 AM