Commentary
America's allies deserve more noticeable gratitude
By Thomas Plate
As the Bush administration pushes forward with its tripartite military, intelligence and diplomatic thrust, it should aim for more modesty in its public posture and more noticeable gratitude for those foreign friends and sympathizers who are helping, in some instances at tremendous personal and political risk.
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The Bush inner circle is, of course, well pleased with Tony Blair, the remarkable British prime minister whose bold stand and clear enunciation of the issues has struck such a positive chord in the States. Uncannily, he has managed to fill the psychic U.S. need for a sense of historic perspective, especially when the young American president seems increasingly stuck in a redundant rhetoric of revenge.
French President Jacques Chirac pledged combat contributions.
Less noticeably, French President Jacques Chirac pledged combat contributions, and while Japan's Junichiro Koizumi is hemmed in by his country's constitution from matching that, this imaginative prime minister has been trying every way he can to maximize Japan's contribution. But, in addition to being inhibited by a largely wary and pacifist populace, he also has run into that brutal bottleneck known as the Diet, through which it might be harder these days to find a clear pathway for anything of substance than to locate Osama bin Laden's tunnel.
More predictably — but no less gratefully — America once again gets from Australia just about everything it asks. Say what you want about Prime Minister John Howard: He's not an Asia enthusiast, he's dull as dishwater, whatever. But wouldn't you rather have him in your bunker than some of the world's more flamboyant characters that may outscore Howard as a talker but are no match for this plain man as a doer?
And consider the perils being braved by President Pervez Musharraf, caught in the vise of Bush's determination to scorch the earth of terrorists and Pakistan's fractured culture of 145 million in which armed militants as well as fiery fundamentalists swirl and fester. Should he be able to survive this long U.S.-led campaign amid this near chaos and continue to rise to the occasion, Pakistan will rise to a new level of world respect.
So, too, will a pair of Southeast Asian countries whose leaders more and more remind one of Margaret Thatcher for toughness: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the Philippine president, and Megawati Sukarnoputri, the Indonesian president. Arroyo has an organized Muslim rebellion in the south; Megawati sits atop a sprawling, convulsive nation with the world's largest Muslim population. But, just as Thatcher seemed to grow with every challenge, these extraordinary women are emerging as leaders of stature.
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Less in the news, perhaps, but not in the minds of U.S. military planners, is ever-steady Singapore. It has built a port facility huge enough to berth the mammoth ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet; at the same time, the Goh Chok Tong government nimbly managed to reassure Beijing that this capability meant no harm to China's interests.
Japan's Junichiro Koizumi battles brutal bottleneck known as the Diet.
For all this, America's friends deserve our finest hour, not our clumsiest. Washington must remain careful not to overplay its hand. Intimations, for example, that the U.S. military reach may extend inside Indonesia, the Philippines or even Malaysia are extremely unwise. Rather than scaring the terrorists, they are scaring these governments and their people.
In a rattled Malaysia, the U.S. Embassy has had to deny the rumor of American military activity or intent. Megawati, in particular, has to watch her back as militant Islamic street demonstrations threaten her hold on the country.
The United States also needs to be more humble. In its press conferences and public appearances, the White House should bluster less, and the Pentagon should stop showing off those gloating, grisly bombardier videos. What's to celebrate in the replay of half-million-dollar bombs leveling a few mud huts? Even though, at the end of the day, the United States and its allies will very probably prevail, let's not forget that this is all a terrible tragedy. America needs to be sad about the enemies it's making even as its military does the nation proud.
Remember John F. Kennedy's finest hour, as the Cuban missile crisis ended with Moscow's retreat? JFK's first instinct was to admonish his advisers not to brag. Let's hope history repeats itself. If so, history can speak for itself.
Tom Plate, a columnist with The Honolulu Advertiser and the South China Morning Post, is a professor at UCLA. He also has a spot on the Web.
