Hart Attack

The San Francisco Chronicle, with its ever keen eye for foreign policy wisdom, published this story on Tuesday about former Senator Gary Hart's recent speech in San Francisco.

Hart says Iraq invasion will increase terror attack risk "We're going to kick open a hornet's nest, and we are not prepared in this country," Hart told about 200 people at a joint gathering of the Council on Foreign Relations and the World Affairs Council. "When we engage in a military conflict in the Middle East, the threats to this country will skyrocket."

Hart is perhaps best known for his 1987 quote ''follow me around . . . it will be boring.'' This of course referred to the as yet unproven allegations of womanizing, which were quickly proven by the journalists who took him up on his suggestion. So you'd hope that the Chronicle would be particularly skeptical and questioning of anything that Hart says.

But no, the Chronicle seldom challenges the statements of anti-war Democrats. They didn't give Hart the opportunity to explain why he expects a wave of terrorism in response to an attack on Saddam, even though there's little historical precedent to support Hart's prediction.

First, think of all the wars in the last hundred years or so -- e.g. World Wars I & II, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Afghanistan, El Salvador, the Gulf War. Where were the proximate terrorist attacks? I don't believe there were any. Next, think of the various terrorist attacks against U.S. civilians: e.g. World Trade Center bombing (1993); Sept. 11, 2001; Kenyan and Tanzanian embassy bombings (1998), Achille Lauro (1985). What were the proximate connections to U.S. military action? I don't believe there were any.

The only event that comes to mind that does have a clear connection to U.S. military action is PanAm flight 103 (Lockerbie). The 1988 bombing was apparently ordered by Qaddafi in retaliation for the 1986 bombing of his house, which in turn was in retaliation for the unprovoked bombing of the Berlin disco. The main lessons I take from this are that Islamic terrorism follows its own internal logic (lack thereof). It can be defeated but not accommodated. Had we been more thorough in our reaction to Qaddafi back in 1986, flight 103 might have reached its intended destination.

So I'm not ready to buy Gary Hart's jeremiads. And while we're on the subject of Gary Hart and specious foreign policy advice, don't forget that Hart was George McGovern's 1972 campaign manager.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at February 16, 2003 06:53 AM