Role of world superpower has its downside

WASHINGTON — We wince at the sight of dead bodies piled up before the U.S. Embassy in Liberia and feel guilty about the frantic cries of the Liberian people for help from President Bush. But there is no outcry from Americans that we get involved.

Our skin prickles at the news that North Korea apparently is even more hell-bent than we thought on getting nuclear bombs. We are slack-jawed at Bush's seeming lack of concern. But we don't demand to know his options.

American soldiers are dying almost every day in Iraq; military leaders indicate it will be years before Iraq is left to fend for itself again. In the meantime, the United States is forced to pledge to skeptics around the globe and in Iraq that it will provide proof that Saddam Hussein's evil sons are really dead and it shows photos of the bodies.

Our global partners in the war on terror are running away faster than garden party guests in a thunderstorm. Bush is forced to reward the stalwarts with barbecue in Crawford.

This business of being a superpower certainly has its downside.

The biggest problem for Bush right now is that because of Iraq, his hands are tied on other fronts. When he went to Africa, standing in the doorway of no return where so many slaves went to their deaths, he certainly had good intentions toward Liberia, a country founded by ex-slaves from the United States. But despite the clear indication that he would help Liberians who adore the United States and are being killed by hundreds by rebels, he has backed down, convinced that the U.S. military is stretched too thin.

He certainly meant it when he said earlier this year the United States would not tolerate a nuclear North Korea. But now, he has to button his lips. The United States has no intention of getting involved in another war on the Korean peninsula.

In September 2001, Bush could not have been more earnest than when he pledged all-out war on terrorism, later vowed to get Osama bin Laden "dead or alive" and began putting together a coalition of countries to fight the terrorists on all fronts. That coalition has begun to fall apart, largely because many other countries think Bush has lost focus, distracted by Iraq.

As politicians wonder about the effect of a $455 billion deficit this year, the news that it will cost about $4 billion a month to try to put Iraq together again is accepted without much debate. But the worrisome thought that Iraq could be another Vietnam is spreading. It is now a given that the administration did not think through the ramifications of war with Iraq despite all the warnings.