In part, of course, such a statement would have put our business leaders in a lather, and nothing ruffles the feathers of our Washington crowd, Republicans and Democrats alike, more than the thought of disturbing the folks whose dollars line their pockets.

But more importantly, it seems, we didn’t do it because the Chinese had our people in custody, and we wanted to get them home—at almost any cost. So we said we were sorry, and sent our regrets, and generally acted meek and mild and mollifying, and lo, none of our airmen were hurt, and all of them were returned intact to the flag-hung confines of Whidbey Island. And deep in the White House bunker, Dubya’s pollsters rejoiced.

Death before dishonor, it was once said. Today, though, the watchword for our military and its civilian chiefs seems to be dishonor before death. The spy plane fracas is a small matter, really, but there is still a word for what the Bush administration did to get our men and women home from Hainan. It is a word from an earlier time, when a fascist state wanted not Taiwan and the South China Sea, but Danzig and Vienna, the Rhineland and Prague.

The word is appeasement.

Ross G. Douthat ’02 is a history and literature concentrator in Quincy House. His column appears on alternate Mondays.