Joshua Muravchik, writing in the Washington Post, urges neoconservatives and conservatives in general to stand by President Bush’s foreign policy. Muravchik provides a strong defense of Bush’s first term, but fails to persuade me that the president hasn’t lost the plot in the second term, under the stewardship of Secretary Rice.
The real test is Iran. Here, Muravchik worries that the administration “is conceding too much to our U.N. Security Council partners.” However, he argues that “if [Bush] is going to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities — as I believe he will have to do and will not shrink from doing — his position will be strengthened by having exhausted every diplomatic possibility.”
But Muravchik doesn’t point to any policy decisions since Rice became Secretary of State that justifies his assumption that Bush won’t shrink from bombing Iran. Time will tell, and my stance towards administration foreign policy is wait-and-see.
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