Four years ago, the [tag]neocons[/tag] argued that “regime change” in Iraq was key to spreading freedom and establishing stability in the [tag]Middle East[/tag]. [tag]Bush[/tag] listened — and things haven’t worked out particularly well. The neocons have adapted their strategy and now believe invading Iran is the key to the regions problems. Richard Perle, Newt Gingrich, and most notably, William Kristol, are all using the ongoing violence between [tag]Israel[/tag] and [tag]Lebanon[/tag] as grounds for yet another U.S. [tag]war[/tag].
Today, of all people, [tag]George Will[/tag] takes on the lot of them in a surprisingly hard-hitting column. Indeed, the prospect of another war pushed by the neocons and executed by incompetent administration officials seems to have pushed Will over the edge.
Will notes, for example, that Kristol recommends a strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. “Why wait?” [tag]Kristol[/tag] asks. “Does anyone think a nuclear Iran can be contained?” He acknowledges that there would be “repercussions,” but he insists they would be “healthy ones, showing a strong America that has rejected further appeasement.” Will responds:
“Why wait?” Perhaps because the U.S. [tag]military[/tag] has enough on its plate in the deteriorating wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which both border Iran. And perhaps because containment, although of uncertain success, did work against Stalin and his successors, and might be preferable to a war against a nation much larger and more formidable than Iraq. And if Bashar Assad’s regime does not fall after the Weekly Standard’s hoped-for third war, with Iran, does the magazine hope for a fourth?
You know, that Will guy is making some sense.
As for the “healthy” repercussions that the Weekly Standard is so eager to experience from yet another war: One envies that publication’s powers of prophecy but wishes it had exercised them on the nation’s behalf before all of the surprises — all of them unpleasant — that Iraq has inflicted. And regarding the “appeasement” that the Weekly Standard decries: Does the magazine really wish the administration had heeded its earlier (Dec. 20, 2004) editorial advocating war with yet another nation — the bombing of Syria?
Neoconservatives have much to learn, even from Buddy Bell, manager of the Kansas City Royals. After his team lost its 10th consecutive game in April, Bell said, “I never say it can’t get worse.” In their next game, the Royals extended their losing streak to 11 and in May lost 13 in a row.
When Will trots out the baseball analogies, you know he means business.
I’d also add that Will has been surprisingly helpful of late. In May, Will blasted the whole notion of “values voters.” For that matter, last fall, Will was unusually candid in questioning Bush’s competence. Earlier this year, Will took on some of the GOP rhetoric on tax exemptions and misplaced moralizing. Not long after, Will gave a rather scathing assessment of the president’s energy policy. And when it comes to the war in Iraq, Will has described it as “untenable,” compared it to Vietnam, and said the war could “unmake” Bush’s presidency.
It’s almost as if Will is considering what’s become of conservative thought in the 21st century and wants to make clear, “I’m not with these guys.”