Much Ado About "a crappy little country" Part 2
"every now and again the United States has to pick up a crappy little country and throw it against a wall just to prove we are serious."
In response, several people wrote questioning the validity of the quotation. They cited an article by William Beeman from 2003 that included a very general statement about an erroneous quotation. I pointed out, however, that Beeman had told Simon Mars in 2004 that he had uttered these words but I also promised to ask Professor Beeman about his mysterious reference. He has now answered. "Actually, it was not that quote that I took out of the article. It was a quote that truly was from another author, who also wrote for the National Review Online. In the editing process, the correct attribution was inadvertently omitted. It was about using violence against other nations. Ledeen objected (and with some justification, I must admit) because he hadn't said those exact words, but he had plenty of similar sentiments, and as editor of the National Review Online he knew precisely what I was talking about, and even must have approved it."
Based on Beeman's answer, it seems that the quotation is, in fact, genuine.