Saturday, December 12, 2009

Return of the Antiwar Right

Posted by Jack Hunter on Sat, Dec 12, 2009 at 5:43 PM

My latest column at The American Conservative is also the weekend spotlight feature (for Dec. 12 and 13) at Antiwar.com:

For eight long years under George W. Bush, conservatives endorsed a don’t ask, don’t tell foreign policy—they did not really ask why their country was at war and Republican leaders did not tell, or bother, Americans with any of the gory details. Missions were accomplished, we fought them over there so we didn’t have to fight them here and troops were supported by simply supporting the wars they fought, with little to no dissent. But why were we fighting? What was “victory?” How many had to die? What was the cost? Conservatives did not ask-Republican politicians did not tell.

But some Republicans are finally asking. Regarding President Obama’s decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan, columnist Reihan Salam writes: “Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican known for his independent streak, has made a conservative case for withdrawal.”

Says Chaffetz:

“Our military is not a defensive force for rough neighborhoods around the world. They are trained to be an offensive, mission-driven military force to protect the United States of America. They are not trained to be nation builders or policemen… If our mission in Afghanistan is simply to protect the populace and build the nation, then I believe the time has come to bring our troops home.”

Is Chaffetz’s position on Afghanistan a sign of things to come? Salam thinks so, writing: “my guess is that by the 2010 congressional elections, dozens of Republican candidates will be doing the same across the country.”

We can only hope. As a conservative, I have long found it perplexing that to a large extent the American Right has been defined by its enthusiasm for going to war virtually anywhere, for virtually any reason and often for no good reason.

The notion of defending one’s country is something patriots of all political stripes can subscribe to. But that every military action our government commits to should automatically be considered righteous and unassailable is a bizarre position for conservatives, given their natural distrust of government in every other sphere. The Wilsonian idea of “making the world safe for democracy” has never been the language of hard-headed conservative realists, but maniacal ideologues, and yet the liberal dispensation and celebration of such utopian rhetoric by the last Republican president, his party and most self-described conservatives, left the Right a confused mess.

Read the entire column

Topics: National Politics
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Comments (8)

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Jack Hunter, your're just STUPID! so you think you wrote a great article, think again. It's people like you in America that should "move" else where like another country. Remember 9/11??? Did you want us to sit on our butts, do nothing like clinton did? Do you want more 9/11's here? Do you not use the brain God gave you??? Bush stood up for the USA, name someone else in recent decades that did? want to be a sitting target? Keep up the act & lying. How did we let this happen? (9/11) now, why are we fighting. Make up you dam mind, if you have one.

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Posted by sunnymoon on December 13, 2009 at 3:22 AM

If we can all be honest for a second, the truth is there will be "more 9/11s here." They are inevitable.

There will be one next year. And the year after that. And the year after that. And the year....

That's how calendars work.

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Posted by chrishaire on December 13, 2009 at 9:46 AM

@the rest: 9/11 began 'here' because we were 'overthere': Osama Bin Laden warned us before - if we would not leave Saudi Arabia and its holy places, than he would strike the USA. US foreign policy is a direct source for recruiting terrorists due to its interventionism and its uneven handed policy regarding Israel and the Palestinians. US policy is not only regarded as unjust but also as hipocritical: why attack Iraq when most of the terrorists were Saudi-sponsered Saudi's? Let's us face the facts.

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Posted by Stuyvesant on December 13, 2009 at 11:22 AM

I suppose if a republican wins in 2012 you will then be all for war again?

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Posted by Follyman on December 15, 2009 at 5:55 PM

No offense to any 9/11 fundamentalists out there but it has been proven that people resent the hell out of our nation building and pre-emptive war/interventionist foreign policy driven by our coorporatist state (I encourage all to research the history of Iran and to weigh it with the war-mongering toward Iran going on right now - see also the Israeli lobby). Corporatism (which is also essentially fascism by the way) has existed and continues to exist regardless of what party happens to be in power. DUH. So please, let us continue to argue over the left vs. the right, as if either side is fundamentally that different. And please let us continue to tarnish the memory of 9/11 by entertaining the equally horrific and psychopathic idea that killing thousands of innocent tribal people will do anything to fix the underlying problems that caused it.

Also, we don't live in a democracy. We used to live in a Constitutional Republic when the federal government gave a damn about the minor technicality of strict adherence to the Constitution. We now live in a Plutocracy. So lube up and get used to getting screwed. Until everyone wakes the hell up and starts doing some freaking critical thinking and not following the party line like a retarded Christian fundamentalist/brown shirt liberal robot. The right this, the left that. Shut the hell up and do some critical and original thinking for once. Not you SA, of course. You continue to keep up the good work.

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Posted by n66178 on December 16, 2009 at 10:25 AM

So after nearly 10 years of this nonsense the right discovers fiscal responsibility and peace? I wonder if it has anything to do with the black guy's election???

I'd find this much easier to take if I'd seen a single conservative marching on DC back in February/March 2003. Don't remember seeing you Jack or any other Teaparty gasbags.

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Posted by Mario Delgado on December 16, 2009 at 2:19 PM

More left vs. right irrelevance Mario?

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Posted by n66178 on December 16, 2009 at 2:37 PM

Stood up for the USA?!?! Bush showed little resolve to fight either war and openly refused to shut down the border. You are truly confused if you think those actions were the way to go to prevent "another 9/11". Bush greased the skids for Obama and now we are invested in nation building when the USA is broke itself. Hmmm, the 9/11 hijackers were they from Iraq... No that would be Saudi for the most part.

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Posted by John Boy on December 20, 2009 at 10:37 PM
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