Kristol Clear
On Wednesday (Sept. 1), the neoconservative editors of the Post compiled a series of rebuttals to Will’s column in a section entitled “Where Will Got It Wrong,” including a lengthy excerpt from a blog post by leading neocon theorist William Kristol, who attacks Will for sentimentality when “it would be better to base a major change in our national security strategy on arguments.”
Not surprisingly, given his enthusiastic support for the invasion and occupation of Iraq, Kristol advocates “a surge of several brigades of American forces” in Afghanistan and a determination “to support a strategy, and to provide the necessary resources, for victory.”
Alongside Kristol’s blog post was an op-ed by Post columnist David Ignatius, another enthusiastic supporter of the Iraq War. (Like so many of his neoconservative colleagues who are such fans of war, Ignatius never wore the uniform. His writings do not show any awareness of what was going on in Vietnam as he pursued his studies at Harvard.)
Regarding Afghanistan, Ignatius concludes that “this may be one of those messy situations where the best course is to both shoot and talk – a strategy based on the idea that we can bolster our friends and bloody our enemies enough that, somewhere down the road, we can cut a deal.”
You may recall that President Johnson followed a similar strategy of trying to bomb his Vietnamese enemies to the bargaining table. Worked like a charm, as is well known.
Counting the tragedy in Iraq – as well as the one in Vietnam – this is the third time I’ve seen this movie. (Posted by Bulatlat)
Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, the publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC. During his career as a CIA analyst, he prepared and briefed the President’s Daily Brief and chaired National Intelligence Estimates. He is a member of the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).
