Not World War III

by Liberty and Power

When a war breaks out somewhere, two sound principles for civilized people are: (1) demand an immediate ceasefire and, failing that, (2) keep the war contained--do not broaden it, do not join in.

We can gauge the civility of the Bush administration's neoconservative boosters by the fact that they reject both principles.

My op-ed"Not World War III" appears today in the Baltimore Chronicle & Herald. It was distributed by The Future of Freedom Foundation.

Cross-posted at Free Association.

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Sheldon Richman - 7/31/2006

Readers can judge the article for themselves.

Craig J. Bolton - 7/31/2006

Let me clarify, since I apparently wasn't clear the first time around. I see the reference to Grinich and "the Weekly Standard folks" in your article. That isn't, however, a reference to anything in specific. Now I know that the neo-conservatives [particularly their founders] are loons. But I hadn't heard that Grinich is a card carrying neo-conservative or that any neo-conservatives had been advocating WWIII.

The only person I'm aware of that has been prating about WWIII is Tony Blankley, who certainly has a strong historical association with Grinich but also isn't exactly a "neo-conservative."

You know, Sheldon, everytime the people who write for this Forum get off on this topic [Israel] you seem to blend off into invoking evil demons, meaningless generalization, and just plain rants, without even a serious nod to the opposing points of view. In this article, for instance, you seem to be taking the position that this ceasefire would be good because ceasefires are always a good thing. But how many of your readers do you think would buy into such a position? Indeed, I doubt that you would want to defend such a position to a mixed audience containing nonanarchists. So it must be this particular ceasefire that is somehow particularly merited, albeit you never get around to telling us why - other than the people who are opposing it are evil neo-conservatives.

Not very convincing.

Sheldon Richman - 7/30/2006

Did I not mention Gingrich and the Weekly Standard folks? They appear in my version of the column.

Craig J. Bolton - 7/30/2006

But I note that you fail to specifically identify the particular "Bush administration's neoconservative boosters .. [that] are doing their best to expand the conflict by pronouncing it World War III or IV and urging U.S. participation--specifically, by bombing Iran or Syria." Pray tell, who are they?