Administration’s motivation is fear

Recent letters are numerous that attribute evil or base motives to President Bush concerning the thorn in our side known as Iraq. This flurry of letters is nothing more than a diarrheic expression of deep-seated prejudice. Such an assumed motivation offers only a crude and basically inaccurate model of the behavior dynamic. There is another motivational factor that better models the administration’s position: Fear.

The administration must have intelligence, which they are not at liberty to disclose, which has them scared spitless.

Now fear, in and of itself, is not necessarily a bad thing. Fear of a hot stove protects a young child from injury. The question becomes, is the administration handling this fear appropriately by confrontation?

Our European friends seem to think not. But Europe’s Neville Chamberlain response is as reckless today as it was in 1939. The Neville Chamberlain response was not an aberration of European culture – it was the epitome of that culture.

Britain learned this lesson through the very bitter experience of WWII. And that is why today, Britain is so closely aligned with the Bush Administration’s policy towards Iraq. On the issue of dealing with Iraq, President Bush is proceeding appropriately.

Edmonds