Carping from Brits.(on the right)

NEW YORK, JANUARY 5

AT the end of the year we have much to be grateful for, and a fair amount to wonder about. For instance, the tenacity of some British critics of our undertaking in the Mideast, nicely identified in an essay by Mark Steyn in the Daily Telegraph.

Looking back on British pessimism, he cites Simon Jenkins of the Times, whose column on March 28 was headed, "Baghdad Will Prove Impossible to Conquer."

Well, such is the nature of miscalculations. But miscalculations are generated not only by mangled strategic reckoning, but also by animus. Mr. Steyn refers unkindly to the "autopilot frothing of leftie vaudeville turns like Harold Pinter." Pinter on politics is simply Pinter astray with a perforated spleen, but what about such British eminences as (Sir) Max Hastings, the former editor of the Daily Telegraph?

"It is hard not to hate George Bush," Hastings wrote the other day. "His ignorance and conceit, his professed special relationship with God, invite revulsion. A few weeks ago, I heard a British diplomat observe sagely: 'We must not demonize Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz.'" But "Why not?" Sir Max wants to know.

"The U.S. defense secretary and his assistant have implemented coalition policy in Iraq in a fashion that makes Soviet behavior in Afghanistan in the 1970s appear dextrous."

What is it about Wolfowitz that does such things to people? Steyn looks into the question: "Wolfowitz is a demonic figure to the anti-war types for little reason other than that his name begins with a big scary animal and ends Jewishly."