 |
Sounding the Iraq alarm Is Anybody Home?By Rick Horowitz
Consider the man in the suit and the tie, wandering the streets of the nation's capital. He's an older man, a distinguished-looking man, with a trim face and a neatly trimmed crown of silver hair. He looks like someone you might have seen somewhere before -- or perhaps it's just the type. You could call his smile "toothy," although at this particular moment, you could more accurately call it "absent." The man in the suit and the tie doesn't smile much these days, except every now and again in frustration, in amazement. "Can you believe this?" his smile seems to ask, of the latest turn of events. Other than that, though, he may not feel he has much to smile about. He's sounding alarms, and nobody's listening. Watch him meander from here to there, and the seeming randomness of his travels gradually yields to patterns. You notice he puts himself in front of television studios, and then inside them, where he answers questions from other men in suits and ties. They don't act surprised to see him, although some of what he says in answer to their questions appears to take them aback. For his part, he seems perfectly comfortable sitting there answering their questions, although some of his answers appear to surprise even him. (He's not generally the alarm-sounding kind.) If he were simply a street person who had wandered in where he didn't belong, they would never have let him stay. But he's not a street person. He's a government person. In fact, he's a United States senator. He's been a United States senator for more than a quarter century, representing the people of Indiana. His name is Richard Lugar, and he's a good Republican, and he's worried for the president. It's this whole business with Iraq. Richard Lugar, the good Republican, is concerned about what's been happening there, and he can't find out what's supposed to happen next. If he were simply a street person who had wandered in where he didn't belong, this wouldn't matter very much. But he's not a street person. He's a foreign-affairs person. In addition to representing the people of Indiana, Richard Lugar, good Republican, is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It's his job to know what's supposed to happen next in Iraq, and he can't find out. The White House doesn't know. Or the White House won't tell him. He finds neither possibility especially encouraging. "Whole weeks pass," he says, "without any sign, really, of how things are proceeding." He knows that the United States is supposed to hand over sovereignty to the Iraqi people on June 30 -- but hand it over to whom? There's barely a trace of an Iraqi government ready to take charge that soon. He knows that Paul Bremer and the Pentagon will no longer be in charge of the American presence in Iraq after June 30 -- but who will be? There'll be an American embassy in Iraq, yes, and 3,000 embassy employees -- but who'll be the ambassador, and what will those thousands of people be doing? Richard Lugar hasn't heard a thing. He knows that the president has said over and over again that the June 30 date is rock solid -- but why? It takes time to build a government out of rubble, and the latest uprisings mean even more rubble. Even more trouble. Does the White House really believe it can pull this whole thing together in the next 12 weeks? Richard Lugar thinks it may be time to reopen the discussion. "If I were a member of that governing council," he says, "I would wonder how do I plan to govern?" Consider the man in the suit and the tie, wandering the streets of the nation's capital. He's a good Republican -- loyal, thoughtful, widely respected. He's one of the grownups in town. He's trying to help the president. He's trying to warn the president. Posted 4/6/04. Expect
the unexpected from syndicated columnist Rick Horowitz -- and tell your
friends!
|
  |
Rick Horowitz
