STRONG WORDS

VP Dick Cheney is writing a book.
It will be an instant best seller and is being eagerly awaited.

b.o. has ordered/allowed his Attorney General to investigate alleged enhanced interrogation techniques of barbarian enemies of the United States.
The CIA is apparently being marginalized and demonized in the process.

Liberal commentators argue that democracies do not and should not carry out enhanced interrogation techniques, alleging that such techniques undermine the very goals democracies seek to achieve.
This in spite of the fact that evidence is mounting that such methods produce excellent results.

What to say about all this?

One useful thought is one written some years ago by a very wise European statesman: “Those who like sausage and politics should never watch either being made.”
This eminently true observation was echoed this past weekend at the funeral of Senator Ted Kennedy.
One of the sons jokingly mentioned that his beloved Dad found a way to include him in the crew of his racing sail boat, even though it was against the rules to do so and that Senators in the church that day would understand the ability of a Senator to circumvent the rules.

The eminent European spokesman was wisely pointing out that some pretty unpleasant things actually do go on in the higher realms of international policy making – nasty things are done certainly by the bad guys, and sometimes even by the good guys.

And if the good guys were not prepared to do the dirty work, then perhaps they were not the men/women for the job.

This is a given. This is a sine qua non. This is Diplomacy 101.
To argue otherwise is to be naive, ignorant, and frankly, to be out of touch with reality.

We have always believed that to be a national leader, in the arena of international relations, is to walk a very fine line indeed, for what is easy morality for the individual is by no means always easy morality for the leaders of nations.

Churchill once said that if necessary he would climb into bed with the devil if it would serve the interests of England.

Strong words.

Churchill was a strong leader.

There are not many Churchills.