BY: Fred Johnson

Last year when Charlie Gibson questioned Sara Palin about the Bush Doctrine it was the first time many had ever heard of that term. It turns out that it was not a written doctrine and neither Gibson nor Palin were said to have described it correctly.  Wikipedia defines it “as a collection of strategic principals, practical policy decisions and a set of rationales and ideas for guiding United States foreign policy.”  The Bush Doctrine was basically the principal that the United States had the right to secure itself from foreign regimes that represent a potential threat to the security of the United States. Later, the doctrine was expanded to include the policy of preventive war and spreading democracy around the world as a strategy for combating terrorism; and a willingness to pursue U.S. military interest in a unilateral way.  

    Now that we have a new president, the Bush Doctrine is history. We have a new doctrine as yet unwritten or stated as an official policy. However, we are now four months under new leadership and a new doctrine is emerging. A New York Post writer and former military intelligence officer, Ralph Peters, summed up his idea of our new doctrine based on government actions these past few months. His 11 tenets are discussed below:   

    • Tenet number 1: We’re to blame. Any problems anywhere, they are America’s fault. We have seen the U.S. apologized for at the G-20 meeting in Europe, apologized for in Mexico; apologies given to Fidel Castro and Hugo Chaves, among others.  
    • Tenet number 2:  Problems can be negotiated away, North Korea fires a ballistic missile towards us and we want to talk. Iran refuses to halt their nuclear weapons program and threatens to destroy Israel and we want to talk.  
    • Tenet number 3: Problems that can’t be talked out can be bought off. 
    • Tenet number 4: Islamist terrorism does not exist. The term has been banned from government departments. Any future terrorist attacks will be called “man-caused disasters.” The term “enemy combatant” will no longer be used by the government. 
    • Tenet number 5: It’s all our fault (See Tenet number 1). 
    • Tenet number 6:  Israelis the obstacle to Middle East peace. Palestinians are victims         
    • Tenet number 7: Our Nukes threaten world peace and we need to get rid of them.          
    • Tenet number 8:  Our military is dangerous. This principal is evidenced by the listing of returning soldiers as potential security risks by our Department of Home Land Security and the threats of the administration to cancel the F-22 Fighter program, our missile defense program and make other cuts to our military.    
    • Tenet number 9: Our intelligence services are more dangerous than our military. The release of the CIA’s interrogation techniques and the threatened release of interrogation photographs severely cripples the CIA’s effectiveness in combating terrorism. Nancy Pelosi’s accusation that the CIA lied to her typifies the negative view of the CIA by Congress 
    • Tenet number 10: It’s only torture if we do it (See Tenet number 9).   
    • Tenet number 11: Blame President George W Bush.  When all else fails, fall back on this.

Printed in the May 21, 2009 edition.