Debating the War with Myself

I recently picked up a book that was first published in late 2005 called The Right War? The Conservative Debate On Iraq?

I have been a supporter of the war since it began, and I still support the U.S. and coalition efforts there. But, sometimes it seems like I'm the only one still supporting this war. I had my doubts about the war during the six months leading up to it back in 2002-2003. But, the President's 2003 State of the Union Address fully convinced me that this was "the right war for the right reasons." The speech laid out a broad vision and many reasons why the U.S. had to keep the pressure on Saddam and take him out if necessary.

After debating the necessity of going to war with myself then, I found this speech convincing and I have supported our efforts for regime change ever since. Once you decide to go to war, I believe, you must go and you must finish the job. The problem with "regime change" is that it holds us accountable and responsible for helping bring a new, stable regime to Iraq.

But, it has now been four years since we invaded and occupied Iraq. A lot has been accomplished in so short of a time, but as with all occupations, the occupied get restless. The debate here in the U.S. has heated up again, with the Democrats demanding a time table for withdrawal and with Bush again standing his ground that he will not accept their lack of a plan to finish the job. Bush's decision to stay committed to his goal has meant a political disaster for the Republican Party, as there is really no other reason to vote for the Democrats. They hardly offer anything positive these days. So, is staying in Iraq worth risking continued political losses for the Republican Party? For the conservative movement?

With all this on my mind, I want to take up the Iraq war debate again and this book, The Right War?, looks like an intriguing, open way to do that, especially from a conservative perspective. It features articles from over 20 conservatives debating whether this was the right war for the U.S. to get involved with. The writers include: Victor Davis Hanson, William Kristol, Robert Kagan, James Kurth, Henry Kissinger, the Editors of National Review, Andrew Sullivan, David Brooks, George Will, Fouad Ajami, Owen Harries, Fareed Zakaria, Max Boot, Andrew Bacevich, Norman Podhoretz, Francis Fukuyama, Charles Krauthammer, Patrick Buchanan, Robert Ellsworth, Dimitri Simes, Charles Kesler, Eliot Cohen, and Reuel Marc Gerecht.

The articles re-published in this book were all written between 2004-2005, so it was when the violence in the post-war Iraq began. I also take up this debate because I have seen and know many conservative intellectuals, including ISI speakers and some of my ISI collegues now coming to similar conclusions about the war that I saw some of my Leftist professors at Maryland coming to when I was there back in 2001-2004. Of course conservative intellectuals and Leftist academics start from different first principles (and perhaps have different end goals in mind), but often their policy positions are not far off from each other.

So, once again, they are encouraging me to take a look at the arguments and whether this war was in America's best interest at this time. Over the next 22 days, I hope you will join me as I blog about the many arguments used by these cast of conservative characters. Each day, I will blog about each of the 22 chapters that I read from The Right War? I will display their main arguments, write my reaction, and tell you what I agree with and what I disagree with, and whether or not the authors have strengthened my support for the war, or made me rethink it.

I am going to try to be as open-minded about this as possible, but I will fully acknowledge now that I have been a strong supporter of this war all along and still hope to see the U.S. succeed, despite the challenges. We'll see how I feel in 22 days. I encourage you to respond to any posts. I'd love to hear opinions. At the end of this whole thing, I plan to write a long reaction of my own and present the best arguments I can find for whatever conclusion I come to (if I come to one).