NATIONAL ISSUES

In one particularly instructive Sesame Street episode, Bert and Ernie find themselves confronted with rain leaking through a hole in the roof. They lament that it is impossible to go out and fix the roof while it's still raining. Thus, they continue to get wet. When the weather finally clears, though, they decide not to bother fixing the roof, reasoning that you don't need a good roof as long as it's not raining.

These two Muppets evidently understood better than most the essence of American energy policy under Ronald Reagan and George Bush: twiddle our thumbs as long as oil is cheap, then cringe in policy paralysis when the inevitable oil shocks come along...

* * *

Last week, The Crimson called on President Bush to give the U.N.'s economic embargo of Iraq a chance to cripple Saddam's war machine. We agreed that the worldwide coalition could not tolerate the ruthless dictator's occupation of Kuwait indefinitely, but we believed (and still do believe) that military force should be used only as a last resort.

Wednesday night, the sanction-based strategy was unfortunately discarded. Now we can only hope against hope for as quick and bloodless a victory as possible. An indefinite suspension of the offensive or the withdrawal of American troops from the region would undermine the legitimate objective of the U.S.-led coalition and would likely lead to greater instability and bloodshed in the Gulf.

The U.S. should make certain goals painstakingly clear: reversing the aggression of Saddam Hussein and preventing further aggression; deterring other Middle East countries from encroaching on the sovereignty of their neighbors; and removing Hussein's threat to the world economy. As long as military action remains consistent with all of these objectives, the offensive should continue...

* * *

This month, Mikhail Gorbachev has consolidated his control of the Soviet government. He has cracked down on nationalist movements in Lithuania and Latvia. He has proposed suspending a five-month-old law guaranteeing free speech, claiming that the ongoing crisis required a renewed commitment to "objectivity."

And nobody has seemed to notice. The blaring front-page headlines that announced Eduard Shevardnadze's resignation have disappeared now that the Soviet foreign minister's dire predictions of imminent dictatorship have come true. Just as Khruschev's 1956 invasion of Hungary was overshadowed by the concurrent Suez crisis, the backlash in the Baltics has been buried on page nine.

In times of war, it is easy to forget about events on the periphery. But the result of the conflicts in the Soviet Union could have an even greater impact on Bush's New World Order than the result of the Gulf War. Where does the Evil Empire of yore fit into Bush's vision of "a world where the rule of law, not the law of the jungle, governs the conduct of nations"? Is "wanton aggression" acceptable when undertaken by a nuclear superpower? Does the "sovereignty of nations" apply to the Soviet republics who clamor daily for independence?

...so much for the New World Order. It isn't particularly New, it encompasses little of the World and provides barely a modicum of Order. Its future looks ominous indeed...

* * *

The Gulf War was not a good war. There is no such thing as a good war that cuts short 80,000 lives. There is no such thing as a good war, period.

But the Gulf War was a necessary war. It was a just war. It was a popular war. And it was a successful war. That's quite a rare combination in American military history. Few Americans have forgotten that our previous war was neither necessary, nor just, nor popular, nor successful.

We are deeply grateful to the men and women who risked their lives to help the allied coalition carry out the U.N. resolutions to the letter. We are also grateful to President Bush and his advisors. At times, we have taken issue with their conduct. But overall, they did a remarkable job...