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ABRAHAM SOFAER, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a former legal adviser to the State Department, criticized the Philippine government's decision to withdraw its small troop contingent from Iraq a month earlier than scheduled to save the life of Angelo de la Cruz, a Filipino held hostage in that country. "Assuming that they are going to pull out, this will be taken as a very negative action, and I think the Filipinos will not benefit from it at all in the long run," Sofaer told the San Francisco Chronicle July 13. "In the short run, they will save this one man, but in the long run they will be seen to have capitulated to terror - and they have their own terrorists at home." The Philippine government originally planned to withdraw its humanitarian contingent of 51 soldiers and police by Aug. 20. De la Cruz was freed July 20.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported July 9 that independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader has received a windfall of contributions from deep-pocketed Republicans. Almost 10 percent of Nader's major donors - those writing checks of $1,000 or more - have given to the Bush-Cheney campaign in recent months, an analysis of federal records shows. Some Republicans acknowledge that many in the party have mentioned that a donation to Nader may boost Bush, particularly in states where the vote is expected to be close. "Republicans have no problem with it, if the goal is to keep President Bush in office," said BILL WHALEN, a veteran GOP strategist and Hoover Institution fellow. "It's not pretty. But putting a guy (in the White House) you don't like is not pretty either." Whalen said the Republican National Committee or the Bush-Cheney campaign can't technically condone such donations, but "you absolutely want your activists to get out there and help Ralph run" because of the effects he had on the 2000 election. "Do the math," Whalen said.
GUITY NASHAT, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, told the San Francisco Chronicle July 2 that Arab leaders might view the war crimes trial of Saddam Hussein as a warning to loosen up their own policies. "I hope they see that even someone as defiant and as powerful as Saddam has been brought down to this stage," she said. "I hope that someone like Bashar Assad of Syria and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt will begin to think more seriously about allowing greater political participation, and greater easing up control of their economies." But other Middle East experts warn that the trial could backfire, leading to even more anti-American sentiment in the region.
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