Target Centermass

Submitted for your approval, a contrast of national leaders: George Bush, who was willing to stake his presidency on the course of action in Iraq he thought was right, and Jacques Chirac, who was drooling to oppose Bush, not for the cause of right but for the cause of political gain. Now, Chirac is condemning Britain’s Tony Blair for not following the same self-centered course.

French President Jacques Chirac said in a newspaper interview on Tuesday that Britain has gained nothing from its support for the United States-led invasion of Iraq.

Chirac said he had urged Britain before the invasion to press President Bush to revive the Middle East peace process in return for London’s support.

“Well, Britain gave its support but I did not see much in return,” Chirac was quoted as saying in the Times. “I am not sure that it is in the nature of our American friends at the moment to return favors systematically.”

Blair’s staunch support for Washington over Iraq led to bitter divisions within his ruling Labor Party and dragged down his public approval ratings.

Chirac, who will hold talks with Blair when he makes a state visit to Britain on Thursday, recalled a Franco-British summit last year when he asked his British counterpart to try to influence U.S. policy on the Middle East.

“I said then to Tony Blair: ‘We have different positions on Iraq. Your position should at least have some use’. That is to try to obtain in exchange a relaunch of the peace process in the Middle East.”

Chirac questioned whether Britain could act as a bridge between the United States and Europe to help heal the rift that developed over the Iraq war. France and Germany were among the most vocal opponents of U.S. military action to oust former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

“I am not sure with America as it is these days that it would be easy for someone, even the British, to be an honest broker,” Chirac was quoted as saying in the Times.

Blair said on Monday that Europe and the United States should bury their differences over Iraq and focus on global challenges such as lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. “It is not a sensible or intelligent response for us in Europe to ridicule American arguments and parody their political leadership,” Blair said in his major foreign policy speech of the year.

Do not make the mistake that Chirac is all about the Mideast peace process — no, for dear ol’ Jacques, it’s all about personal political gain and setting the E.U. (and consequently France) up as global rivals to the US. In this atmosphere, it is not surprising that an honest broker like the British would be ineffective in healing the rifts between the US and France. An honest broker cannot aid the relationship between a cowboy and a rattlesnake.

At a time when the world needs more Winston, we’re cursed with too much Jacques.

Hey, buddy, you got a light?

A man set himself on fire about 2 p.m. Monday on Pennsylvania Avenue outside the White House.

The man, whose identity and condition have not been released, was taken to a hospital for treatment.

“Members of the uniformed Secret Service responded and administered first aid to the individual until D.C. fire and EMS arrived,” said Secret Service public relations spokesman Jonathan Cherry. “The individual has been transported to the burn unit at Medstar at the Washington Hospital Center. An investigation is currently under way.”

The investigation is being conducted by U.S. Park Police, whose jurisdiction includes the property directly outside the fence surrounding the White House.

President Bush went about his regular schedule during and after the incident, said White House spokesman Trent Duffy.

One witness said the man approached a security checkpoint building at the northwest gate of the White House and showed a writing pad with the word “urgent” written on it. When a uniformed Secret Service guard asked if he could help him, the man began walking along the fence toward the guard.

Another witness near the scene heard the unidentified man yelling in Arabic, “God is great,” several times. And several witnesses said a bag the man was carrying started burning, pouring out thick black smoke that enveloped him.

The man appeared to fall face forward on the ground in front of the gate security building, the witnesses said, and uniformed Secret Service agents rushed to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher.

The section of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House was cordoned off. Secret Service agents evacuated the immediate area in front of the White House, including the North Lawn area used by television organizations and other journalists, while initial examinations of the man and his bag were conducted.

Some may say this is tragic. Some may say this is funny. I say it is a precursor of things to come.

Terrorism will happen here. Bombings will happen here.

So many of us sleep still, thinking that an offensive campaign is all that is needed, or that an offensive campaign is the last thing that is needed. Both views are wrong, though the latter is pathetically so. An offensive war against Islamist terror allows us to choose the battlefield and hopefully reshape the social terrain of the Islamist world. It gives an area of focus for the terrorists, for they cannot allow us to successfully build an alternative hope for the Arab world, but it does not prevent them from always seeking to attack us here to try to sap our will.

My first thought upon hearing this news was of the Buddhist monks who ritualistically took their own lives with fire in Viet Nam. Upon quick reflection, I think the comparison is absolutely empty. The Islamists may welcome death and think it brings rewards, but I know of no instances where they went into that good night without trying to take others with them. I’ll admit I may be ignorant on this, but I still feel the Viet Nam flashback uncalled for in this instance.

This may have been one lone nut, or it may have been an Islamist who hoped to do damage and looked forward to meeting 72 virgins as a charcoal briquet. Either way, there will be future attempts to harm us and to shake our conviction to fight the radical cancer that torments much of the Moslem world. In facing this, we cannot waver, we cannot cower and hope the danger passes, and we cannot lose focus that this is a great conflict between a dark yesterday and a bright tomorrow.

Such conflicts do seem to give rise to the occasional loon.

In a series of expected moves, Secretary of State Colin Powell announced that he would step aside, and President Bush has apparently chosen Condoleezza Rice as Powell’s successor.

Powell, a retired four-star general who often clashed on Iraq and other foreign policy issues with more hawkish members of Bush’s administration, said he was returning to private life once his successor was in place.

The Cabinet exodus promised a starkly different look to Bush’s second-term team. Rice is considered more of a foreign policy hard-liner than the moderate Powell.

The White House announced Powell’s exit along with the resignations of Education Secretary Rod Paige, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. Veneman had said last week she wanted to stay.

Bush’s nomination of Rice is expected Tuesday afternoon, a senior administration official said.

Stephen Hadley, now the deputy national security adviser, is expected to replace Rice at the White House, the official said.

Combined with the resignations earlier this month of Commerce Secretary Don Evans and Attorney General John Ashcroft, six of Bush’s 15 Cabinet members will not be part of the president’s second term, which begins with his inauguration Jan. 20. An administration that experienced few changes over the last four years suddenly hit a high-water mark for overhaul.

It’s well known that Powell was often not in full lockstep with the Bush administration, though this was quite often overblown into actual opposition. Powell will always be a fine military figure and a respected statesman; nevertheless, I feel that Condi has more of the steel and understanding needed in the challenges presented by Islamist ambitions.

Now is not the time to worry overly much about the feelings, desires and ambitions of Old Europe. That time will come when they actually wake up to their own danger. No, now is instead the time for a titanium spine, an iron gauntlet and a vision of optimistic change in dealing with the Moslem world, as is also the case with North Korea and communist China. It’s now Condi’s turn.