It was Al Gore who first tested the DLC's pro-military themes in his hapless Presidential campaign of 1988, when he was one of a cast of relatively unknown and inexperienced Democratic Presidential contenders referred to derisively by some commentators as the "seven dwarfs." I remember scratching my head when I attended the Presidential debate held at Manhattan's Javits Convention Center in the spring of that year and learned that one of Gore's distinguishing characteristics was that he was the only Democratic candidate who had endorsed Ronald Reagan's 1983 invasion of Grenada--that great and glorious victory in which it was decisively proven that U.S. Marines in helicopter gunships are mightier than Cuban construction workers armed with shovels.
While the Grenada case was an extreme example of Gore's eagerness to endorse the use of military force as a way of demonstrating that he was a "different kind of Democrat," it is consistent with many of the positions he has taken since that time. In an April 1988 speech to the New York Democratic Committee, Gore suggested that "because of their dovish foreign policy views, the nomination of Massachusetts Governor Michael S. Dukakis or the Reverend Jesse Jackson would gravely jeopardize Democratic chances of regaining the White House," according to Robert Shogan of the Los Angeles Times. Among the issues Gore chastised his Democratic rivals for were their failure to endorse Jimmy Carter's decision to put nuclear-armed Pershing missiles in Germany to reduce our mythical "window of vulnerability" to nuclear attack by Moscow and their unwillingness to support Ronald Reagan's decision to provide U.S. military escorts to Kuwaiti tankers moving through the Persian Gulf.
Gore was an early and consistent supporter of using force in the Persian Gulf. In 1991, he and Lieberman were two of only ten Democrats in the Senate to vote for the resolution authorizing the air war against Iraq. Lieberman also called for the use of U.S. ground troops to drive Saddam Hussein from power, despite the fact that such a move would have violated the U.N. resolution that had authorized U.S. intervention in the conflict.
Lest we think his views have mellowed with age and experience, Gore has a section on his campaign web site entitled "Gore Backed Use of Military Force When Necessary to Protect U.S. Interests and Values," in which he proudly proclaims that he "argued strongly for punitive air strikes against the Serbs," "supported air strikes and continuous patrolling of the no-fly zone to contain Saddam Hussein," and "supported military retaliation against Osama Bin Laden for terrorist attacks against U.S. embassies in East Africa." (This retaliation included the bombing of a building in the Sudan that was later determined to be a pharmaceutical factory with no documented connection to Bin Laden.)
Look for a Gore and Lieberman Administration to be quick on the trigger when it comes to launching air strikes on Washington's designated enemies of the moment. In this, they would continue the tradition of William Jefferson Clinton, who has used force overseas more often than any U.S. President of the past two decades, including Ronald Reagan.
And if you are hoping that Gore and Lieberman might deliver a peace dividend, think again. During the Presidential debate in Boston on October 3, Gore proudly proclaimed that his ten-year Pentagon budget has "set aside more than twice as much" as George W.'s for upgrading the military. Sadly for progressives, Gore's boast is true: He proposes to add $10 billion per year to the Pentagon budget over the next decade, while Bush plans an increase of "only" $4.5 billion per year. Gore also went out of his way to criticize Bush for "skipping the next generation of weapons," he said. "I think that's a big mistake because I think we have to stay at the cutting edge." That means Gore is in favor of funding costly, multibillion dollar weapons systems (for example, the F-22 or the Joint Strike Fighter) to replace current systems that are already perfectly capable of defending the United States under all imaginable circumstances. It looks like the Pentagon and the weapons makers can break out the champagne regardless of who wins in November.
The people of Iraq, however, would have nothing to celebrate. Gore and Lieberman are not likely to have much sympathy for calls to end civilian sanctions on Iraq, despite strong evidence that ten years of sanctions have contributed to the unnecessary deaths of one million Iraqi civilians, including the deaths of 4,500 children per month. Apparently, Gore and Lieberman's concern about the negative impact of the violent words and images visited upon American children by the entertainment industry does not translate into sympathy for the deadly impact U.S.-led sanctions have had on Iraqi children. In Al and Joe's moral universe, all children are decidedly not created equal.