Way the Hell Off the Reservation

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Thomas L. Friedman, the OG Liberal Hawk, delivers a big ol' I-break-with-thee to the man who made his democratizing war come to life, and even endorses Kerry's "nuisance" line in the process. (Link via Liberal Hawk Jeff Jarvis, who is none too pleased.)

NEXT: Minimum Magic

Matt Welch is an editor at large at Reason.

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  1. I guess this means the conventional wisdom has shifted.

  2. Ken Shultz

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=15346

    When we talk about Liberal Hawks, we're not talking about Christopher Hitchens anymore, are we?

  3. Curtis

    It's easy to respect both sides of the issue. The word "nuisance" leaves too much open and is a call to the playground to come watch (or become involved in) a tussle.

  4. Curtis

    It's easy to respect both sides of the issue. The word "nuisance" leaves too much open and is a call to the playground to come watch (or become involved in) a tussle.

  5. Matt

    Hitchens was never a liberal. Marxist Hawk would be more appropriate.

  6. Jason Bourne

    Matt,

    Hitchens is (was?) a Marxist-Trotskyite.

  7. alkali

    This reader, for one, appreciated the Steve Martin reset.

  8. alkali -- Someone's gotta fly the flag.

  9. I'd be more impressed if Jarvis hadn't stabbed Bush in the back himself, using his expertise in military affairs to determine that the president had "fucked up" the "aftermath" in Iraq.

    What do these "liberal hawks" want from Bush? How much more of what they claim to want could he have delivered? If people like Friedman and Jarvis can't conclude that Bush is the man for them, they're unteachable.

  10. Yo

    Preach on, brother Tim, preach on!

  11. Jon H

    "What do these "liberal hawks" want from Bush?"

    I'd guess they would have liked to see a minimal level of competence, rather than what they got, which was apparently planned by the AEI's foreign policy "fantasy warfare" league.

  12. kwais

    Ken Shultz,
    Interesting article on Hitchens, I have long been a fan of his writing. Back during the Clinton time I considered him an honest lefty. Now he has given the best hawk arguments I have heard, and Buchanan has given the best non intervention arguments I have heard.

  13. I'd guess they would have liked to see a minimal level of competence, rather than what they got, which was apparently planned by the AEI's foreign policy "fantasy warfare" league.

    A few examples at the end of this post.

    Not securing the spy headquarters or the nuclear material at al Tuwaitha? I mean, come on. Even R.C. Collins wouldn't have made those mistakes.

  14. I'd guess they would have liked to see a minimal level of competence, rather than what they got, which was apparently planned by the AEI's foreign policy "fantasy warfare" league.

    Maybe. Or maybe they were in hot pursuit of a pipe dream, this president made that dream come true in a manner that has been orders of magnitude less disastrous and more successful than any prudent person had a right to expect, and rather than admit that this is the best possible outcome of their original stupid idea, they prefer to play "Klink, you idiot" with the one man they should be thanking.

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