The Right War?: The Conservative Debate on Iraq

by Edited by Gary Rosen

• ISBN13: 9780521673181
• ISBN10: 0521673186
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-08-15
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

To declare oneself a conservative in American foreign policy is to enter immediately into a fractious, long-standing debate. Should America retreat from the world, deal with the world as it is, or try to transform it in its own image? Which school of thought - traditionalist, realist, or neoconservative - is truest to the country's ideals and interests? With the dramatic shift in American foreign policy since 9/11, these differences have been brought into stark relief, especially by the Bush administration's decision to go to war in Iraq. This book brings together the most articulate and influential voices in the debate among conservatives over the tactics and strategy of America's engagement in Iraq. Its contribution run the gamut from protests to second thoughts to full-throated endorsements, and represent a vivid sampling of the ideological currents likely to influence the Bush administration in its ongoing efforts in Iraq and the wider Middle East. Gary Rosen is Managing Editor of Commentary. He holds a PhD in political science from Harvard and is the author of "American Compact: James Madison and the Problem of Founding." His articles and reviews have appeared in Commentary, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.

Table of Contents

List of Contributors	vii
Introduction	1	(72)
Gary Rosen
1 Iraq's Future - and Ours	7	(11)
Victor Davis Hanson
2 The Right War for the Right Reasons	18	(18)
Robert Kagan and William Kristol
3 Iraq: Losing the American Way	36	(13)
James Kurth
4 Intervention With a Vision	49	(5)
Henry A. Kissinger
5 An End to Illusion	54	(3)
The Editors of National Review
6 Quitters	57	(6)
Andrew Sullivan
7 A More Humble Hawk; Crisis of Confidence	63	(4)
David Brooks
8 Time for Bush to See the Realities of Iraq	67	(3)
George E Will
9 Iraq May Survive, but the Dream Is Dead	70	(3)
Fouad Ajami
10 The Perils of Hegemony	73	(14)
Owen Harries
11 Like It's 1999: How We Could Have Done It Right	87	(4)
Fareed Zakaria
12 Reality Check - This Is War; In Modern Imperialism, U.S. Needs to Walk Softly	91	(5)
Max Boot
13 A Time for Reckoning: Ten Lessons to Take Away from Iraq	96	(6)
Andrew J. Bacevich
14 World War IV: How It Started, What It Means, and Why We Have to Win	102	(68)
Norman Podhoretz
15 The Neoconservative Moment	170	(16)
Francis Fukuyama
16 In Defense of Democratic Realism	186	(15)
Charles Krauthammer
17 'Stay the Course!' Is Not Enough	201	(3)
Patrick J. Buchanan
18 Realism's Shining Morality	204	(8)
Robert F. Ellsworth and Dimitri K. Simes
19 Has Iraq Weakened Us?	212	(10)
Victor Davis Hanson
20 Democracy and the Bush Doctrine	222	(11)
Charles R. Kesler
21 A Time for Humility	233	(4)
Eliot A. Cohen
22 Birth of a Democracy	237	(8)
Reuel Marc Gerecht
Index	245