Secretary Powell vs. the Vulcans

By David Polhemus
Advertiser Editorial Writer

Perhaps not unsurprisingly, Americans after the devastating terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 are putting their faith in their nation's leaders.

A Washington Post survey found that, for the first time in three decades, a majority of Americans say they trust the federal government to "do what is right," while President Bush's approval rating hit new highs.

Meanwhile, however, signs of doubt about Bush's response to the crisis were appearing. "Does U.S. have a plan?" was the headline on a column Thursday by veteran N.Y. Times reporter R.W. "Johnny" Apple.

"The plan seemed clear enough when President Bush addressed Congress (Sept. 20)," wrote Apple. "The rhetoric was rousing, but what form of military action to take appears to be an increasingly awkward issue."

The Defense Department rushed long-range B-1 and B-52 bombers to the region almost at once, wrote Apple, but they had no obvious targets. It seems now to be clear that bombing Afghanistan would create more refugees, which might destabilize neighboring Pakistan, whose nuclear weapons might then fall into the wrong hands.

It also became less clear that replacement of the Taliban by the Northern Alliance would be a real improvement.

What Americans may truly want once the smoke clears is not blind revenge, but justice and security. And toward this end, the calm and reasoned voice of Secretary of State Colin Powell seems to have put some limits on what once promised to be a massive spasm of American venom.

"But," wrote the Los Angeles Times in an editorial, "some important figures inside the Bush administration such as Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and others are challenging this policy. Restlessness is growing among those who want ... an all-out assault on Iraq because they believe that Baghdad was tied to the Sept. 11 attacks and that Saddam Hussein poses a mortal danger to American interests."

And, added the Times, "For many American conservatives, Colin Powell is the enemy."

Calling themselves the "Vulcans," Wolfowitz and others have long advocated the militarization of Japan and alliance with India to constrain China, as well as a new war of unfinished business against Iraq.

Thus there was a serious policy split within the Bush administration over the most basic outlines of foreign policy before the events of Sept. 11, a split now figuring in the shape — and size — of the "war on terrorism."

Powell counsels against any appearance of a broadly anti-

Islam approach; the Vulcans appear not to share those constraints. Powell warns that an attack on Iraq would shatter the anti-terrorist coalition he has been building; the Vulcans reflect the "go it alone" sentiment that marked the first months of the Bush administration.

As it became known at week's end that U.S. and British scouts were already in Afghanistan, the question became whether Bush was still groping for a policy or using deliberate tactics of misdirection — "rope-a-dope," as Muhammad Ali called it — to make his plans more effective.

Stay tuned.

You can reach David Polhemus through letters@honoluluadvertiser.com.