In contrast to his fair minded critique of pro-war pundits for Pat Buchanan’s American Conservative (proving, if more evidence was needed, that politics do indeed make strange bedfellows) Glenn Greenwald today argues that Iraq war supporters who fail to sign up to support the proposed “surge” of forces are cowards:
A “coward” is someone who (a) fails to fight (b) in a war they consider to be necessary and just (c) notwithstanding their country’s need for more fighters and (d) in the absence of a unique and compelling excuse for doing so.
This chicken hawk nonsense continues to circulate among even the thoughtful critics of the war despite its obvious illogic having been pointed out dozens, perhaps hundreds of times over the past few years. It’s exasperating.
Our society, as with all modern societies, operates on division of labor along lines of specialization. Some people are constitutional lawyers, some are soldiers, while others are surgeons, firefighters, policemen, file clerks, butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers. One can simultaneously and without hypocrisy want fires put out without becoming a firefighter, want streets free of crime without being a cop, and enjoy eating steaks for dinner without becoming a butcher.
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