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Cato Daily Dispatch for July 17, 2003

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(Links to outside sources were active as of the date of this dispatch; however, not all news sources maintain links to current stories indefinitely. Some links also may require registration.)

Pentagon: U.S. Troops Facing 'Guerrilla' Attacks in Iraq

"The new commander of U.S. forces in Iraq said Wednesday that coalition troops are facing a 'classical guerrilla-type campaign' from insurgents whose tactics are growing more sophisticated," reports USA Today.

"Army Gen. John Abizaid is the first senior Pentagon or administration official to publicly use the word 'guerrilla' to describe the hit-and-run attacks against U.S. forces since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime."

In "Leave Iraq as Soon as Possible," Charles Peņa, Cato director of defense policy studies, writes: "The guerrilla-style tactics being used to pick off U.S. and British troops may only be the tip of the iceberg. The lesson should be clear: The United States must leave Iraq at the earliest possible opportunity."

"But to do so requires a willingness to renounce the unrealistic goal of building a perfect democracy in Iraq," writes Peņa. "U.S. national security demands only that any new government not harbor or support terrorists who would harm the United States."

He concludes, "To prevent gratitude from turning to resentment and hostility, we must have the wisdom to leave as quickly as possible."

House Committee Votes against FCC Rule Changes

"The House Appropriations Committee moved in a bipartisan vote yesterday to block the Federal Communications Commission from easing a rule that limits ownership concentration in commercial television markets," according to The Washington Post.

"The vote followed a broader effort in the Senate to reverse an FCC decision to ease rules that prevent one company from owning television stations and newspapers in the same market. Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) has signed on 28 Democrats and seven Republicans to support a 'resolution of disapproval' that would overturn the agency's ruling. That measure has been placed on the Senate calendar for expedited consideration, but no date has been set for debate."

Adam Thierer, Cato's director of telecommunications studies, called the FCC rule changes "a modest tweaking of existing regulations and standards." He said: "Talk of mythical media monopolies and an end to 'diversity' and 'localism' in broadcasting represent scare tactics with no basis in reality. Information and entertainment cannot be monopolized, especially in an age of breakneck technological change."

In "The Big Media Boogyman," Thierer writes: "Even as the underlying business structures and relationships in this industry continue to change, the one undeniable reality of our modern media marketplace is that information and entertainment are commodities that cannot be monopolized."

Draft U.N. Resolution on Liberia Includes U.S. Troops

"The Bush administration has drafted a U.N. resolution that authorizes deployment of a multinational force to Liberia and prepares the ground for U.S. participation, administration officials said yesterday," reports The Washington Times.

In "Liberia Folly," Ted Galen Carpenter, Cato's vice president for defense and foreign policy studies, writes: "During the 2000 campaign, George W. Bush emphasized that a vital national interest ought to be at stake before the United States launches a military intervention. Unfortunately, the president is about to violate his own standard by sending American troops to Liberia at the head of an international peacekeeping force.

"There is not even a peripheral, much less a vital, U.S. interest at stake in Liberia. It might be possible to find a country that is less relevant than Liberia to America's security and well-being, but it would take a major effort."

Carpenter concludes: "It is unsound strategically to send our military personnel in harm's way when there is no vital security interest at stake. Even worse, it is immoral to risk their lives in such ventures. Being a superpower means that the United States has the luxury to say 'no' as well as 'yes' to suggestions that it engage in military interventions. Liberia is a case where U.S. leaders should have said 'no' early and often."

Wyatt Dubois, editor, wdubois@cato.org