(Charles Krauthammer article continues)
Historically, whenever one country has arisen above all the
others in power, anti-hegemonic alliances immediately formed
against them. The classic example is the alliance against
Napoleon in the early nineteenth century, and of course the
alliances against Germany from World War I to World War II,
particularly in the 1930s, where you had the rise of an
aggressive, hegemonic Germany in the heart of Europe. What
is interesting about our unipolar era is that whereas we had
achieved unprecedented hegemony in the first decade and a
half, there were no alliances against us. What I think we
are beginning to see now is Iran positioning itself at the
center of a regional alliance against us, again with the--
Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria, Sadr--looking to overawe the entire
region with the acquisition of nuclear weapons, which would
make it the regional superpower. And Iran is receiving tacit
backing for its regional and anti-American ambitions from
two great powers: Russia and China. That, I think, is the
structure of the adversary that we will be looking at for
the decades to come.
As the Bush Doctrine has come under attack, there are those
in America who have welcomed its apparent setbacks and
defeats as a vindication of their criticism of the policy.
But the problem is that that kind of vindication leaves
America in a position where there are no good alternatives.
The reason that there is general despair now is because if
it proves to be true that the Bush Doctrine has proclaimed
an idea of democratizing the Arab/Islamic world that is
unattainable and undoable, then there are no remaining
answers to how to counter ultimately the threat of Islamic
radicalism.
It remains the only plausible answer--changing the culture
of that area, no matter how slow and how difficult the
process. It starts in Iraq and Lebanon, and must be allowed
to proceed and not precipitate an early and premature
surrender. That idea remains the only conceivable one for
ultimately prevailing over the Arab Islamic radicalism that
exploded upon us 9/11. Every other is a policy of retreat
and defeat that would ultimately bring ruin not only on the
U.S. but on the very idea of freedom.
