Albright not alright

Washington Monthly, Dec, 2003 by Nelson Marans

Contrary to the reviewer, one alleged victory does not compensate for the many defeats suffered by the United States during Madeleine Albright's term in the State Department. The one victory, the ousting of Milosevic, although needed, may come back to haunt us as it simultaneously established a continuing problem in accrediting the brutality of the Kosovo Liberation Army in that tinderbox area of the world.

However, as far as the additional actions of the State Department during that period, when the United States was in a position to determine the future course of events by its world position, we failed miserably. Whether it was in North Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, or Sudan, we failed to make the commitment to oppose terror both militarily and diplomatically, bringing on the present crises in all of these regions. Our handholding of such unsavory characters as Hafez al-Assad, Qaddafi, and Arafat have brought the Bush administration a series of almost insuperable problems starting with 9/11. Albright may have brilliantly presented her picture of her tenure as a triumph, but the present problems in diplomacy both in the Middle East and in the United Nations argue otherwise.

Nelson Marans

Silver Spring, Md.