Mistakes have been made …

Judging from the political left’s persistent and growing outrage over the war with Iraq, it’s time for conservatives to admit that mistakes have been made in the way the war was handled. The facts are still in dispute, of course, but as we all know by now – it’s the seriousness of the allegations that matters most.

The allegations are indeed serious. The CIA, which the left knows is both omnipotent and omnipresent, gave the president the absolute, unvarnished truth about Iraq long before the war was a gleam in the president’s eye. Unfortunately, the left has charged, the president chose to varnish this unvarnished truth in his various addresses to the nation, thus providing a somewhat slicker slippery slope of justification for the war. The left now feels betrayed.

It’s too late to undo the damage caused headstrong, go-it-alone, security-obsessed right-wing terror-hating hawks, but at least we can critique the entire Iraq affair and learn what could have been done differently. By addressing the left’s concerns before something like this happens again, both our foreign policy and self-esteem are bound to improve.

When we look at the types of governments that the left admires most, common threads begin to emerge. First, there is strong leadership. Castro comes to mind – hardly a day goes by that he is not honored by students, or held up as an example by faculty at one or more of America’s finest public and private universities. This provides an important insight for those of us on the right, who have been barred from college campuses. Conservatives often assume that the left wants widespread popular backing before ideas are translated into policy. Castro puts the lie to this. All that is necessary to satisfy the left is strong leadership that truly believes in its cause. Leftists admire such people and will follow them. President Bush, Prime Minister Blair – are you listening?

Another mistaken assumption harbored by the right is that legislative debate is important to the left and that consensus is necessary to move forward. Nothing could be further from the truth! Most governments the left admires have rubber-stamp legislatures. Cuba, China, Arafat and the former Soviet Union all come to mind.

Next we must recognize how much the left values open, honest dissent. Leftists seem particularly fond of demonstrations and clashes with the police, especially if these can be televised. But isn’t the left being coy here? Once again, examine the regimes leftists most admire: dissent simply is not tolerated. China with Tiananmen Square, Castro’s Cuba: Both have brutally oppressed their pro-democracy movements. Leftists rarely complain.

Finally, the left has a fondness for the government-controlled media. The British Broadcasting Corporation and its war with Blair; Canada’s BBC wannabe, Australia’s runner up, and America’s own Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Since these media outlets get their funding from the government, there is no commercial axe to grind, no unwashed talk-radio audience – only pure, unvarnished truth delivered predigested to those lucky enough to have a government repeater in their neighborhood.

When we as conservatives examine the features of government and leadership that the left is especially fond of, we will find ourselves in a much better position to make decisions and take actions that the left will get behind. Thus when Iraq the Sequel begins playing at a terrorist training camp near you, conservatives need to be careful and approach the war in a manner that makes the left feel more comfortable.

Instead of seeking a resolution from Congress, President Bush should simply begin calling up reservists and ordering the military to make preparations for war. He needn’t bother Congress with the details. The left will respect that the president is a strong leader who believes passionately in his cause, and they will implicitly support him.

The president should also make a preemptive strike against domestically violent dissenters here at home. The old Soviet Union – long a source of leftist admiration and fawning – never had a competing peace demonstration at May Day celebrations, where missiles and troops were paraded before communist leadership at Red Square. The president should use the FBI and the military to track down and lock up those who disagree with his course of action, even before he tips his hand. Leftists appreciate strength and the country will unite behind his policies.

This is really the left’s goal: A strong America that believes in the rightness of its actions. By using the state-run Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the president can get his information directly to the public without having it filtered through crass, commercial outlets always looking to make a buck. This will ensure trustworthy, accurate reporting, as the BBC has recently demonstrated by driving its sources to suicide.