Don Rumsfeld, Radical for our Time: The defense secretary has ushered in a new era, whose contours we have barely glimpsed

National Review, May 5, 2003 by Victor Davis Hanson

In any case, what is the exact value of bases in such places as Saudi Arabia and Turkey, when they require political concessions and cannot be fully exploited? When a politically hostile Germany boasts that it allows us to use its airspace, and guards our bases that are purportedly guarding it, or spoiled South Korean youth perpetually damn us for fomenting trouble with an unaggressive North, we clearly need to do some rethinking. In this context, it is perfectly logical for Rumsfeld to be the chief promoter of missile defense, which would liberate us from being held hostage politically by ostensible allies.

The State Department may have resented Rumsfeld's quip about an "Old Europe," and his association of Germany's antagonism with the anti- Americanism of our traditional foe Libya, but once again irony abounds: No secretary of defense in modern history has done more than Rumsfeld to strengthen the hand of our diplomats. Because he has essentially ended the Powell Doctrine of cautious intervention -- using overwhelming force for limited objectives, and with a quick exit strategy -- Rumsfeld has brought a certain unpredictability to American foreign policy. And it is precisely this willingness to act alone that will in turn encourage a new maturity abroad, and expedite the war against the sponsors of terror.

"You can't defend," he remarked in an interview about terrorism, "except by offense." It is not so much that he wishes to invade Iran, Syria, or North Korea as that he wants to make it clear that the U.S. can in theory now act precipitously, yet on principle, to thwart totalitarians and terror states -- without a great deal of dependence on traditional bases, allied contingents, or the consent of the United Nations. The days of a static big target of American troops being blown up in Lebanon or Saudi Arabia without reprisals are over. Our enemies' fear may prompt political reform, or at least second thoughts on sponsoring terrorism -- which, in yet another Rumsfeld irony, will eventually make the use of military force less likely.

It may well be that Colin Powell has more diplomatic leverage than any secretary of state in recent memory precisely because the new military can move so rapidly and unexpectedly with lethal power -- a fact that will bring him a host of obsequious foreign visitors. And of course Rumsfeld's blunt language about controversial nomenclature like the Axis of Evil -- "I think putting the microscope, the floodlight, on what is going on in those three countries is just enormously valuable for the world" -- allows Powell to triangulate: He can press straddling states to deal with him now -- or Rumsfeld later.

What is the source of Rumsfeld's independence and steeliness in face of all the criticism? Plutarch, of course, would respond: "character" and "age." And there is much to be said for both. Rumsfeld's dossier -- Princeton, naval aviation, congressional service, an array of presidential appointments, and personal wealth derived from successful corporate leadership -- suggests that he doesn't much need or want anything from anybody. He has known disappointment -- an aborted presidential bid and participation in Bob Dole's inept 1996 campaign -- and realizes that Washington fame is fickle, often undeserved, and deeply resented.