George Schultz & The U.S. State Dept.

There was a lot of noise recently about Bush's West Point speech, and whether it signalled a new policy of "Hot Pre-emption". As Dan Hartung of LakeFX notes, that policy's public unveiling comes from another George: George Schultz, to be specific. Lots of good links to give you solid background on the new thinking and its critics.

I like his post's conclusion, coined by Brad DeLong: "...in the end, the worst failing of a non-interventionist policy is that it's a declaration of the rights of thugs." True.

I was even more enamored of the closing thoughts in Schultz' speech. They should be put on a huge plaque and hung in the State Department, because they accurately describe much of what's wrong with the place:

"Let me conclude with a story from my time in office.  When an ambassador had made it through the hurdles of nomination and confirmation, I invited him or her to my office and said, "Before you can leave, you have one more test. Go over to that globe and show me that you can identify your country." Without exception, the ambassador-to-be spun the globe and located the country to which he would be posted.

One day, the late Mike Mansfield, already many years our Ambassador to Japan and an old friend from my previous times in the Cabinet, came in for a visit just before he was to return to Tokyo. I told him about my little test and said, "Mike, how about you?" He and I laughed. And he went to the globe. Mike put his hand on the United States and said, "Here's my country."

In this setting, dedicated to representation, always remember Mike's words..."