Jul 16, 2009
Good and Bad Arguments against the War in Afghanistan
It isn't just a question of being against the war in Afghanistan. Real liberals should be against the war for the right reasons.
Go here to read Brendan O'Neill's insightful analysis of the war."[T]here has been no serious debate, no serious analysis, no concern with the rights and liberty of the Afghan people. Instead, 130 years after the British Empire first began to unravel in Afghanistan, now the very British state unravels there too. All of this should remind us of the importance of making the principled anti-interventionist argument in relation to Western militarism overseas – not in order to save 'our boys' or hide at home out of fear and defeatism, but in the name of the democratic rights of foreign peoples and of tackling domestic political crises head-on rather than projecting them 'over there'." That's exactly right. It's too bad that so much"anti-war" opinion is not founded on a principled argument against the war.
Tim Black makes a similar argument here.
Go here to read Brendan O'Neill's insightful analysis of the war."[T]here has been no serious debate, no serious analysis, no concern with the rights and liberty of the Afghan people. Instead, 130 years after the British Empire first began to unravel in Afghanistan, now the very British state unravels there too. All of this should remind us of the importance of making the principled anti-interventionist argument in relation to Western militarism overseas – not in order to save 'our boys' or hide at home out of fear and defeatism, but in the name of the democratic rights of foreign peoples and of tackling domestic political crises head-on rather than projecting them 'over there'." That's exactly right. It's too bad that so much"anti-war" opinion is not founded on a principled argument against the war.
Tim Black makes a similar argument here.