American Civility

    Today, Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, testify before Congress on the progress of the war.
    It might be instructive to ask, “What would Reagan do?”
    Twenty–two years ago this month (April 1986) President Reagan approved the bombing of Libyan military installations in retaliation for a terrorist bombing of a discothèque in West Berlin frequented by US servicemen ¹.  Reagan coordinated the attack with Margaret Thatcher, the Prime Minister of Britain, and both agreed that civilian targets should be avoided.   Up to this point, there had been other indications of Libyan machinations in the terrorism campaign against the West.  Late in 1985, Palestinian terrorists sprayed bullets in crowded airports in Rome and Vienna.  Passports were found on the gunmen that were traced back to Libya.  The successful strike by American F-111's sent a clear message to the head of Libya, Muammar al-Qaddafi, without occupying the country.
    Reagan’s policy on dealing with threats against American interests applied uniformly to any entity, sovereign or otherwise.  Several months earlier, Palestinians hijacked an Italian cruise ship, the Achille Lauro, killing an elderly American man in a wheelchair and dumping his body into the Mediterranean.  Reagan gave the go-ahead to Navy SEALS to take the ship, before learning the terrorists had escaped to Egypt.  Reagan asked the President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, " ... to turn the terrorist over to US or Italian authorities for prosecution." ² , only to be rebuffed in being told they were delivered to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and were waiting extradition probably to Lebanon or Syria.  Most leaders would have thrown up their hands at that point.  Not Reagan.  He authorized US fighters to intercept the Egyptian airliner carrying the terrorist and forced them land in Rome.  In those trying months he also bombed Syrian military sites after they fired missiles on an American reconnaissance plane over Beirut.  
    Reagan established four rules for committing US forces:
"1. The United States should not commit its forces to military action overseas unless the cause is vital to our national interest.
"2. If the decision is made to commit our forces to combat abroad, it must be done with the clear intent and support to win.  It must not be a halfway or tentative commitment, and there must be clearly defined and realistic objectives.  
"3. Before we commit our troops, there must be reasonable assurance that the cause we are fighting for and the actions we take will have the support of the American people and Congress.
"4. Even after all these other tests are met, our troops should be committed to combat only as a last resort, when no other choice is available." ³
    Reagan, ever wise, wrote this after a suicide bomber killed Marines in their barracks in Lebanon.  He was not about to become trapped in a Middle East imbroglio, but never hesitated to authorize measured, forceful, rapid response when US interests were attacked.
    Compare this to the situation in Iraq.  Every point of the Reagan Doctrine has been violated in some way.  The upshot is that we have destroyed an entire country and have no clear plan on how to restore it.  We have spent a fortune and lost thousands of lives, with no end in sight.  Moreover, our military is overextended and hence cannot respond in the event of another emergency.  And what of Bush’s promise of an “American foreign policy that reflects the American character.  The modesty of true strength.  The humility of real greatness.”? ⁴

    What would Reagan have done? Whatever his actions, I am confident we would have been writing today about Al Qaeda in the past tense.

1- Reagan, Ronald W. An American Life. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990
2- ibid., p. 508
3- ibid., p. 466
4- "A special report on America and the world", The Economist, 29 March - 4 April, pp. 3-4