[Peace-discuss] A fresh wind blows against the Empire.

[E. Wayne Johnson]

Pure partisanship is a motivator for many but it is really a very poor 
way for one to develop opinions.
It is nevertheless a reasonable question to ask if Will is motivated by 
partisan politics.

I haven't been a big reader or fan of George Will, but I have done a bit 
of study about his views
since I had considered using his comments against the war, I did some 
reading up on Will.  I did not
want to be in the compromising position of spreading the ideas of a 
neoconservative or a poseur.

George Will, a traditional conservative, has been a rather consistent 
critic of the war during the Bush Administration and
he has been severely criticized by Republicans who felt that he was a 
traitor for not going
along with the party line.  Will has long been a vocal opponent of the 
John McCain and
clearly expressed his dismay at the nomination of Sarah Palin.

So, yes, I think that Will would have written a similar piece about McCain.

I find that I don't exactly agree with George Will on several points.  
He is willing to defend Pakistan's
border, whereas I would just bring Everyone home and gradually dismantle 
the American Empire.

But Will's suggestions are a step in the correct direction.





On 9/7/2009 8:35 AM, Stuart Levy wrote:
> On Sun, Sep 06, 2009 at 11:09:44PM -0500, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
>    
>> Principled?  Will seems to me to be making a purely prudential judgment.
>> Or, as we say today, "pragmatic," which means a judgment that specifically
>> excludes ethical considerations.
>>
>> There are two quite different ways to oppose America's Mideast war:
>>
>> [1] it will cost too much to achieve US war aims; or
>>
>> [2] it's a crime.
>>
>> Will seems to be embracing [1], not [2].  --CGE
>>      
>
> There is a Third Way, too:
>
>    [3] Obama's a Democrat, and I'm a Republican, and therefore Obama's
> 	wars deserve criticism
>
> ... as with G. W. Bush's opposition to Clinton's bombing of Iraq before
> his own election.   I suspect that Will wouldn't have written an article
> like this if we had McCain in the White House.
>    
>> E. Wayne Johnson wrote:
>>      
>>> /"People can try and fool themselves that...Obama truly wants peace. The
>>> reality of facts on the ground dispute this.  We are deceiving ourselves
>>> if we think otherwise.  Obama is fully on the trajectory of the Empire,
>>> there is no denying this…I do not place the blame for imperial violence
>>> on any president:  It is the system...What can the people do to counteract
>>> our governments that don’t have our best interests in mind?"/
>>> - Cindy Sheehan
>>> Fresh Winds Blow Against the Empire, as the Nation Tires of Futile,
>>> Endless, Back-Breaking War.
>>> by E. Wayne Johnson   republicmedia.tv (http://tiny.cc/ewjrmtv6sep09)
>>> Conservatives Flee Failed NeoCon Dogmata, while Anti-War Left Fumes at
>>> Obama, and Former BHO Supporters Struggle to Fight Back Buyer's Remorse.
>>> After 8 years, nearly a trillion dollars spent (that's the "Official"
>>> Figure, the "total spent" on the war when the "off-the-balance sheet"
>>> expenditure is known undoubtably much much more), over 5100 US lives lost,
>>> tens of thousands wounded, and more soldiers suffering from
>>> shellshock/PTSD, what do Americans have to show for the sacrifice?
>>> Bubkes.  Bubkes.  Who's got the bubkes?...  In the ancient Chinese classic
>>> Sun Zi Bing Fa ("Master Sun's Art of War"), Master Sun advised 2500 years
>>> ago that there are only two possible outcomes of War:  Survival or Ruin.
>>> Considering that neither Iraq nor Afghanistan had threatened our survival,
>>> the inevitable ruin was anticipated by our wiser leaders, but not by those
>>> who were in charge.
>>> In a couple of extraordinary columns last week in the Washington Post,
>>> Conservative Pundit George Will speaks out against Bush's war which has
>>> expanded into Obama's war.  "The war already is nearly 50 percent longer
>>> than the combined U.S. involvements in two world wars" says Will, who
>>> finds a solution for military success in Afghanistan to be
>>> "inconceivable".   Will also notes that the Iraqis are quite likely to
>>> demand an end to the despised US occupation of their sovereign land, and
>>> says "The United States should treat this as a Dirty Harry Moment: Make
>>> our day.", meaning that a "Yankee Go Home" message from the Iraqi voters
>>> should be the cue for our long-overdue departure from Iraq.  Will suggests
>>> that there might be some need for a military force in the
>>> Pakistan-Afghanistan border region, but nonetheless his principled stance
>>> against the war is reminiscent of the pre-neocon Robert Taft Conservative
>>> days when the GOP was the peace party and the Dems were the war party.
>>> Arch-neocon William ("Bloody Bill") Kristol wasted no time in asserting
>>> that George had lost his "will" by "urging retreat, and accepting defeat",
>>> and encouraging more expenditures and more effort and more troops in
>>> Afghanistan.  One is not surprised to hear such from Bill Kristol and
>>> gang.
>>> (read more:  http://tiny.cc/ewjrmtv6sep09)
>>>        
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>>      
>
>
>    

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