Patience

Given the daily diet of hysteria we're receiving from American and European elites, it's good to read another level-headed essay (following on Saturday's by David Brooks & noted below), this time by Barbara Amiel in the Daily Telegraph.

"It is possible that the Taliban could return one day from the caves where its remnants now hide - if the central government fails. So? Communism may come back to the former Soviet Union, tyranny to South Africa. Does that mean it was not worth removing those regimes in the first place? Those commentators criticising American policy all evince horror of the Taliban, Saddam and terrorism. But follow their arguments to their logical conclusion and most are really saying that the world would be better off if the Taliban still ran Afghanistan and Saddam ran Iraq. They would deny this, but the consequences of what they argue for, or against, lead to nothing else."

She continues:

"Much hostility towards America seems fuelled by an unusually venomous response to this particular president. Possibly, that's because Bush is so quintessentially American that his personality acts like a magnifying glass, focusing the sun on the very spot that burns European skin. From his body language to his somewhat aphasic utterances, he personifies a sort of American-ess that for the British in particular (and some American elites as well) is a mixture of ridiculous and low class. If you are a person of certain standards, it is exceptionally irritating to play second fiddle to a world power led by a man who walks like a bit actor in a cowboy movie and talks about God more than one ought to in select circles."