Drums of War, Calls for Peace: How Should the Left Respond to a U.S. War Against Iraq?
Walzer, Michael
WE SENT the five questions printed below to a group of editors and friends in November, as the UN Security Council was debating the restoration of the Iraqi inspection regime. They responded...
...There has not been a lot of courage visible in the Iraq debate so far...
...The leaders of the Democratic Party wanted only to escape the dilemmas of war and peace so that they could talk about the economy (which they then failed to do in any effective way...
...as I write, their commitment to make the system work (rather than to pretend that it is working whatever happens on the ground) remains radically in doubt...
...2. Do you favor a UN-imposed inspection system for Iraq...
...DISSENT / Winter 2003 n 5...
...3. What is your view of the Bush administration's new doctrine of preemptive war...
...Our European allies were not prepared to act independently of the United States to establish a strong inspection system...
...5. What are, what should be, the long-term goals of the United States in the confrontation with Iraq...
...4. If there is a war, would you join an antiwar movement...
...MICHAEL WALZER The Questions 1. Do you support an American war against the current Iraqi regime...
...Of what sort...
...I would not support a U. S. war for "regime change" (though I don't deny that the Iraqi regime needs changing...
...Many opponents of war here at home and in Europe have been unwilling to acknowledge the brutality of the Iraqi regime or the dangers posed by its weapons of mass destruction...
...But I believe strongly in the need to oppose the "National Security Strategy" of the Bush administration and its doctrine of preemptive war...
...For myself, since I should share the risks of my colleagues, I want to see the inspection system work—and work in a way that represents a triumph for the UN, which has not had many triumphs, and which could be destroyed by a failure here...
...The U. S. government hasn't had the courage to provide the American people with an honest assessment of the risks involved in the war it has been threatening...
...If so, under what circumstances...
...They responded knowing that they would not be read for a couple of months— writing for a quarterly sometimes requires a degree of political courage...
...I could not support a peace movement whose purpose or effect is the appeasement of Saddam Hussein...
...We are grateful to all of them...
...Would you support the threat or the use of force to impose and sustain such a system...
...I would support a UN war to enforce inspection...
...And should this be a war for disarmament or for "regime change...
Vol. 50 • January 2003 • No. 1
