William Kristol, a political commentator and editor of The Weekly Standard, talked Tuesday evening about the face of American politics following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on Washington, D.C., and New York City
"It's pretty rare you can use a date to identify an event," Kristol said in a speech sponsored by the Freeman Center for Jewish Life . "I think the dates we remember are dates of catastrophe, not dates of happiness."
Kristol argued that World War II through the end of the Cold War can be considered one era, and he called the 1990s "a 10-year holiday."
"Sept. 11 was the end of the '90s and the beginning of a new era," Kristol said. "We can't assume that the roles and habits we've gotten used to will continue in the next decade."
Kristol, whose daughter attends Duke, is a former chief of staff for Vice President Dan Quayle and for Secretary of Education William Bennett. He has also taught at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
"I was the token conservative [at Harvard]," Kristol said. "It's useful for the students so they know what one looks like when they get out in the real world."
In his speech, Kristol focused on how President George W. Bush has handled the war and how terrorism has changed American policies.
"A lot depends on leadership," he said. "To [Bush's] credit, he has risen to the challenge and has grasped the nettle of the challenge for his generation."
Kristol compared the present situation to challenges faced in and after World War II, specifically citing the Truman and Marshall Doctrines.
"[The president] laid out the Bush Doctrine. It is a new doctrine in American policy," Kristol said. "[We] won't accept the world's most dangerous regimes developing the world's most dangerous weapons."
Foreign policy is the area where American policy has changed most dramatically, Kristol said.
"U.S. foreign policy is changing in pretty fundamental ways," he said. One of the most important is that Sept. 11 has brought foreign policy to the fore, especially issues in the Middle East.
"[Under the old policy], we had to support these dictators in the Middle East. Now that's a question mark," Kristol said. "One of the big question marks is Saudi Arabia."
Kristol emphasized the importance of U.S. involvement in the region.
"The more the U.S. shapes things the better," Kristol said, warning that if the U.S. backs out of the Middle East, chaos will ensue. "The risks of not acting are as great or greater than the risks of acting."
Addressing U.S. policy to Israel, Kristol noted that public opinion is probably more sympathetic now than it has been.
"There's much more of a sense that Israel is a victim of terrorism like the U.S. is," Kristol said. "Israel is a democracy.... Maybe democracy would be a good idea for some of the other people, [like] the Palestinians."
The challenge, he said, is to create sustainable peace. "You probably have to get beyond Arafat," he said. "[We need to send] the message that terrorism is not the way to accomplish your goals."
Kristol also dismissed the suggestion that American involvement in the Arab world is responsible for anti-Americanism.
"The thing that hurt us most in the Arab world was that we stopped the war [against Iraq]," he said. "We'd do much better in the Arab street if we are seen as a liberating force... I would err on the side of being more aggressive, not less."
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