Victor Davis Hanson surveys the current controversies surrounding the prosecution of our policies in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran and concludes that the criticisms are pretty much vacuous and inconclusive:
Apart from the ethical questions involved in promoting a book or showcasing a media appearance during a time of war by offering an "inside" view unknown to others of the supposedly culpable administration of the military, what is striking is the empty nature of these controversies rehashed ad nauseam.
Hanson goes on to write an outstanding piece, putting these controversies into historical perspective. He concludes with this:
What we need, then, are not more self-appointed ethicists, but far more humility and recognition that in this war nothing is easy. Choices have been made, and remain to be made, between the not very good and the very, very bad. Most importantly, so far, none of our mistakes has been unprecedented, fatal to our cause, or impossible to correct.
So let us have far less self-serving second-guessing, and far more national confidence that we are winning - and that radical Islamists and their fascist supporters in the Middle East are soon going to lament the day that they ever began this war.
Anyone interested in the debates over who should be blamed and what they should be blamed for would do well to read Hanson's essay.
