Bush's Iran Flank

New York Sun: Staff Editorial

Some of our friends on the right are prone to fretting about the influence of television and politics on the conduct of foreign policy, worrying that American public opinion might not have the stomach to withstand, say, a prolonged fight in Iraq. We're prone to respond that the American people are tougher than they are sometimes given credit for, particularly after they were attacked as they were on September 11, 2001. And that the hawks have nothing to fear from the political process.

Exhibit A in this regard is Senator Clinton's speech last week at Princeton, where in respect of Iran she chided President Bush from the right. "I believe that we lost critical time in dealing with Iran because the White House chose to downplay the threats and to outsource the negotiations," Mrs. Clinton said. "I don't believe you face threats like Iran or North Korea by outsourcing it to others and standing on the sidelines. But let's be clear about the threat we face now: A nuclear Iran is a danger to Israel, to its neighbors and beyond. The regime's pro-terrorist, anti-American and anti-Israel rhetoric only underscores the urgency of the threat it poses."

Now, some of this invites a chuckle. Mrs. Clinton and her fellow Democrats, after all, have taken shots at President Bush for overstating the threat of Iraq and for straining America's ties with Europe on the Iraq issue. Now, on Iran, she wants to argue that he understates the threat and gives our European allies too great a role. It makes one think that Mrs. Clinton doesn't have a consistent principle on the war other than to deride the president. After criticizing Mr. Bush for outsourcing our Iran policy, she goes on in the speech to say, "we must have more support vigorously and publicly expressed by China and Russia, and we must move as quickly as feasible for sanctions in the United Nations." Sounds like outsourcing to us.

But mark the message. Mr. Bush and the Republicans face domestic political risks in America for the potential failure of an Iran policy that has consisted on relying on an "EU Three" that consists of France, Germany, and Britain. If Americans wanted a French foreign policy, they could have elected Senator Kerry. Germany is a huge trading and banking partner of the Iranian mullahs. And Congress is also getting out ahead of the administration. On Friday Senators Schumer, Coleman, Feinstein, Brownback, and Allen introduced a resolution condemning "Iran's latest nuclear provocation" and calling for Russia and China to support efforts to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council. This is a situation for Mr. Bush to lead the way on, not to get outflanked by Senators Clinton or Schumer. The right policy focus in respect of Tehran is not disarmament or even nonproliferation but regime change. READ MORE