MARINA DEL REY, CA--The specious old saying "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" guided the pragmatic Bush administration's choice of allies in our war efforts.
      "Our own State Department has identified some of our coalition partners as terrorist states," said Alex Epstein, a writer for the Ayn Rand Institute. "These 'allies' were chosen, not because they shared our commitment to eliminate terrorism, and not because we needed their military support--but for the purpose of avoiding disapproval from the Islamic world. Our government treats the disapproval of the Islamic world as a greater danger than the continued existence of terrorist states."
      "A coalition," said Epstein, "is supposed to be a military benefit--a means of defeating the enemy more quickly with the added firepower and intelligence of genuine supporters. But for the United States to subordinate its military goals to maintain a coalition--as we are now doing--inverts the coalition's proper role and can only lead to the slaughter of more innocent Americans, a slaughter that will undoubtedly be aided and abetted by some of our 'allies.'"
      "Our international coalition serves only as a coalition against American self-defense," said Epstein, "and makes a proper war against terrorism impossible. To defend the lives and the freedom of Americans, President Bush must repudiate this senseless coalition and act quickly, and unilaterally, to end the terrorist threat. Bush must reject pragmatism and declare that some of the 'enemies' of our enemy are also our enemies."

      Ayn Rand Institute executive director Yaron Brook is available for interviews.