THE UNTHREATENING STORM

Slate is featuring an online chat on second thoughts by liberal hawks. It features center-left pundits and analysts who backed Bush on Iraq and explores whether they're having misgivings. Participants include Jacob Weisberg, Paul Berman, Thomas Friedman, Christopher Hitchens, Fred Kaplan, George Packer, Kenneth M. Pollack, and Fareed Zakaria. So far only Weisberg and Pollack have weighed in--each with more self-examination and critical thinking than many of their right-wing counterparts have shown.

It would seem, though, that liberal hawks should have less buyer's remorse than conservative ones. The humanitarian justifications for war in Iraq haven't lost any strength 10 months after the war began. On the post-war evidence, Saddam Hussein appears to have been every bit the bastard he was said to be. It's the conservative, threat-based justifications that have failed to pan out. I'd like to see a similar discussion among right-wing hawks. But I'm not confident we'll see it.