Our Present Chaos – Inconsistency is the order of the day.

National Review ^ | April 16, 2004 | Victor Davis Hanson

[quidnunc]

For the past two years we have lamented the rise of a supposedly new doctrine of preemption — or whether the United States should hit inveterate enemies while they are still vulnerable and have not yet finalized their plans to strike America. The debate arose around, but also transcended, the wisdom of invading Iraq. The possibility of preemption seemed to question the very nature of American morality — as if somehow Mr. Bush had taken the United States in a new and unfortunate direction. Reasonable observers pointed out that preemption was not unknown to recent American presidents, especially with regard to Grenada, Panama, Kosovo, and Iraq in 1998. Yet still the impression was established that Mr. Bush had done something new — and that this supposed departure was, for the most part, very bad indeed.

Then came these 9/11 hearings in the midst of war, and a most surprising new thesis was advanced. A Clinton administration that had done very little to retaliate during some eight years of terrorist attacks and provocations was now seen as less culpable than the newly inaugurated Bush team. About-face critics alleged that the latter, in its initial dozen weeks of governance, had not properly digested intelligence data, steeled its will — and, yes, preempted the terrorists by sending American troops far abroad to kill them before they could kill us. Apparently, the notoriously preemptory Mr. Bush was now to be condemned as not preemptory enough.

For most of late 2002 and early 2003, many of these same critics decried America's supposedly imperial obsession with the petroleum reserves of the Middle East. Our war with Iraq ("no blood for oil") was emblematic of American machinations to steal a nation's natural treasure or at least rig the circumstances of its exploitation. And then suddenly war came. In victory, Iraqi oil was put under the transparent auspices of the Iraqi people — even as some surrounding Gulf sheiks were furious at American efforts to bring not dictatorship but democratic reform to the Middle East.

The result? The price of gas skyrocketed, in part because at least some Gulf OPEC autocratic states vented by cutting production. …

[quidnunc]

FYI

[Tolik]

Victor Davis Hanson moral clarity huge BUMP

Are we crazy? I think in fact we almost are. But the tragedy is that if we are paradoxical, self-incriminatory, and at each other's throats, our enemies most surely are not. They know precisely what they want from us — an Islamic world of the 8th century, parasitic on the resources and technology of the 21st, by which all the better to destroy a supposedly soft and bickering West. And if the present chaos here at home continues, they are apparently on the right track

[Tolik]

Victor Davis Hanson moral clarity huge BUMP  

[please freepmail me if you want or don't want to be pinged to Victor Davis Hanson articles]

If you want to bookmark his articles discussed at FR: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/k-victordavishanson/browse

His NRO archive: http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson-archive.asp

His blog: http://victorhanson.com/index.html     BIO: http://victorhanson.com/Author/index.html

Yes, he is listened by the Bush Administration; they like him maybe as much as we do: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1085464/posts?page=6#6

[BayouCoyote]

BUMP!

[alfa6]

Thanks Tolik for the ping

BTTT

alfa6 ;>}

[happygrl]

If that was not enough, a U.S. senator, with a reprehensible record of personal excess and abject immorality, now in his dotage damns the war in Iraq on moral grounds — even as young Marines seek to protect a nascent and tottering consensual government from thugs and killers. An ex-president who calibrated his campaign for a Nobel Prize by criticizing his successor in a time of war to the applause of foreign powers now steps forward to call for a more principled nation. Such are the moralists of our age.

How does he write such prose ?

He just gutted Kennedy and Carter with one swift thrust.

[MEG33]

Hanson gets it..and nails Kennedy and Carter,our naysayers,and the dangers of our schizoid thinking in America..

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

Shouting to an empty auditorium.
Hardly anyone reads NR.
Wasted on the choir.
Pity.

[quidnunc]

UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide wrote: Shouting to an empty auditorium. Hardly anyone reads NR. Wasted on the choir. Pity.

You wish!

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

I wish the opposite.

I get NR.
I belong to NRA & RTL.
I listen every day to Rush, Hannity, Hewitt, Beck & Savage.

But there are 250,000,000 Americans that do not.
(Okay, I'm counting kids too. But the point stands.)
It's like talking to someone from another planet or parallel universe when speaking with others not so immersed. There is no common set of facts.

The contradictions that Hanson exposes would not impress liberals. They had no problem with Clinton wars. They are only only ONLY interested in Abortion & Gays. They only talk against Bush's wars in order to confuse people into voting for the Abortion & Gays candidate because talking about Abortion & Gays won't attract very many votes. Logic is entirely unnecessary and in fact counterproductive when trying to confuse people on a perfectly straightforward issue. But the result is a very negative state of suspicion that is very hard to dispel with facts when they can't comprehend why in hell you should be so certain.

[lainde]

bump and thanks!!!

[Huber]

Shouting to an empty auditorium. Hardly anyone reads NR.

What a short-sighted reply! The National Review is read by numerous intellient and influential people who develop and transplant its ideas into other sources. There was another article recently in the National Review which discussed the New York TIme's loss of many readers who had migrated to other news sources. The author pointed out that whie the Old Grey Lady is oosing its direct audience, it still has a major infuence on a newtwork of other news sources who look to the NYT for guidance.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

I hardly think many of those influential people need to be told. Leading conservatives can see what is going on. And the liberals know what they're doing.

[hershey]

As always, V.D. is eloquent and to the point. The comparison to Rome grows more apt by the minute -- barbarians are at the gates and have already swarmed over our broken down walls. (Nice to see Fat Teddy put in his place, too.)

[metesky]

Saturday morning VDH moral clarity bump.

[Mr. Silverback]

Hardly anyone reads NR.

First, you wish.

Second, quit whining and forward it.