These are tough times for the War Party. Its favorite Democrat, Joe Lieberman, was defeated in a primary election, largely because of his strong support for President Bush's wars. Iraq is falling into civil war. And Israel's war against Lebanon was a public relations disaster that undermined U.S. attempt to cast Hezbollah's sponsors, Syria and Iran, as the real villains.
There are many who originally supported the War on Iraq who have since admitted their mistake. But among the True Believers, support for an aggressive foreign policy against the "evil-doers" never wavers. There is always another "threat" to our "interests" that can only be addressed through force.
By True Believers, I mean Christians who support Israel no matter what, neo-conservatives who believe Freedom and Democracy can be imposed on foreign countries at gunpoint, those whose sense of national pride hinges on military success and Republicans who love Bush mainly because the Left hates him.
As
Scott McConnell points out, "The defining issue of our day is the Iraq War and American foreign policy." The war may establish new political alignments, in which previous economic and social issues dividing Left and Right fade in importance and the anti-war Right will join forces with the Left. But another possibility is that the Left-Right distinction will hold, and the True Believers will find themselves in the dustbin of history, written off as an unfortunate and extremist element.
The cause of this fracture is the failure of True Believers to act like the conservatives they claim to be. When it comes to war, they refuse to consider costs or consequences. They do not understand or empathize with the enemy. They excuse in themselves what they condemn in the enemy. Rather than considering war as a last resort, they insist on it.
The mentality of the War Party, of the True Believers, continues to baffle me. So I have written the questions for the True Believers, for those who support Bush's Iraq policy, who defend Israel no matter what, who look forward to attacking Iran.
1. You suggest that many critics of Israel, and of U.S. aid to Israel are anti-Semites. But which is more prevalent, anti-Semitism in the anti-war crowd, or anti-French and anti-Arab bigotry in the pro-war crowd?
2. How can you be serious about the "War on Terror" if you neglect the issue of immigration and border control? If we really faced a terrorist threat, would these not be the top priorities?
3. How is bombing non-combatants from above via the Air Force not its own form of "terrorism?" Why do uniforms and greater fire power make one side morally superior?
4. Why are non-combatant victims of American or Israeli bombs at least
partly to blame for the policies of their government, but American and Israeli civilians are always innocent?
5. You claim that extremist Muslims hate us for our freedoms, and want to impose Muslim law on us. Do you not hate Muslim cultures just as much? Aren't you just as determined to overthrow their societies to impose your own values on them? Even if not, wouldn't Muslims have a right to perceive this to be true? How do you know that terrorism is a form of aggression, instead of resistance?
6. About the only "conservative" aspect of neo-conservatism is a preference for markets over socialism, because government planning doesn't work. What makes military planning exempt from the normal laws of economics?
7. If we are morally justified in "preemptive war" to destroy countries that may threaten our interests several years from now, wouldn't those countries be militarily justified in launching preemptive attacks on us?
8. If a nation's interests conflict with ours or Israel's, is there anything its leaders can say or do to earn our trust and goodwill? Or will they always be "hiding something?"
9. People everywhere may yearn to breathe free, but don't they yearn even more to see their families protected, their tribe or nation vindicated, and their religious faith triumphant?
10. If the United States suffered under persistent bombing and occupation by foreign troops, would you rule out terrorism against the occupiers? Against the aggressor nation's homeland?
11. Which is the greater value - democracy or liberty? Is Iran not already a democracy?
12. Did you really expect we would be welcomed in Iraq as "liberators?" Are you serious?
13. How does one hold the artificially constructed "nation" of Iraq together but with brute and terrible force, as Saddam did?
14. Aside from the United States, Israel, and possibly Britain, does any nation on the earth have the right to defend itself? Or are they all "threats?"
15. Would not a country with interests contrary to ours be highly motivated to develop a nuclear deterrent to U.S. aggression?
16. Why do we assume that if Iran develops nuclear weapons that it will use them, when every other nation that has nuclear weapons have relied on them only for deterrence?
17. How low must the dollar fall, and how high must the price of oil reach, before America's crusades are no longer worth the cost?
18. Are we projecting ourselves onto our enemies? As in, "we're crazy, so they must be crazier?" Or, "We're willing to use nuclear weapons, so they're even more willing?"
19. Short of a nuclear war against every country from Morocco to Pakistan, how can we kill every last terrorist? And would even a nuclear holocaust be enough?
20. If your family was massacred by foreign soldiers, or killed by bombs from above, would your reaction be, "Ah, collateral damage. What can you do? No hard feelings."
21. You claim critics of the war in Iraq to be anti-American traitors. Are there any military conflicts that you would ever oppose, no matter how costly and unproductive? Would you be defending a Democrat that had Bush's record?
22. If divided public opinion at home is undermining the war effort, is it okay to rig elections for the benefit of the war? Is it okay to prevent newspapers from publishing negative opinion poll results? How much liberty and democracy are we to sacrifice at home to impose them abroad?
24. Great nations in the past have fallen due to hubris - to thinking they were special, that everything they did was just and right, that they weren't bound by the same rules other nations ought to follow. They also viewed themselves as the "exception to the rule" and that their own dominance will last forever. Is America the exception to the rule?
25. Would you rather be "right" - no matter the price that others must for your ideals, no matter if civilization itself comes to an end - or would you rather have peace?