August 20, 2004

THE REACTIONARIES:

Bush's Withdrawal From the World (Ronald D. Asmus, August 18, 2004, Washington Post)

Harry Truman must be turning over in his grave.

The planned withdrawal of U.S. troops from Europe and Asia that President Bush announced this week, if allowed to stand, could lead to the demise of the United States' key alliances across the globe, including the one that Truman considered his greatest foreign policy accomplishment: NATO.


Mr. Asmus somehow manages to miss the salient point of his own first sentence: Harry Truman died 32 years ago. [He left the presidency fifty-two years ago.] Mr. Tuman wasn't a very good president but he was a pretty smart guy and extremely well-read in history--he'd have scoffed at the notion that any of the policies he adopted would be permanent. He'd have found especially ludicrous the idea that NATO, which was formed specifically to defend Europe from the Soviet Union, would need to remain unchanged fifteen years after the fall of communism.

In fact, were we to apply the Asmus standard to Mr. Truman he could not have formed NATO because the USSR was our ally and Germany our enemy just four years earlier.

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 20, 2004 11:44 AM
Comments

oj-

Spare me your expectations of logical reasoning here. We are dealing with contemporary "liberals" and their aderhents. Members of the cult of power worship.

Posted by: Tom C, Stamford,Ct. at August 20, 2004 11:54 AM

Somehow, I don't see Harry concluding that, despite Korea and the Soviet threat, he had no choice but to accept the disposition of troops set up in the 1880's. What would we do without the Cavalry keeping an eye on the Indians.

Posted by: David Cohen at August 20, 2004 12:12 PM

This article is a prime example of why the State Department needs Jesse Helms (or his equal) in the big chair.

BTW, Vodkapundit gave this Asmus guy a real whipping a couple of days ago.

Posted by: jim hamlen at August 20, 2004 12:20 PM

Do they have a clue how stupid this argument sounds to average Americans?

Posted by: Robert Duquette at August 20, 2004 5:45 PM
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