Last post on Iraq for the day

Pundits, and some of the blogosphere, want there to be a neat left/right split on whether to invade Iraq. So, we’ve heard a lot of liberal arguments against an invasion and lots of conservative arguments in favor of an attack. As I’ve previously said , however, there are good liberal reasons for invading Iraq. And ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

Pundits, and some of the blogosphere, want there to be a neat left/right split on whether to invade Iraq. So, we've heard a lot of liberal arguments against an invasion and lots of conservative arguments in favor of an attack. As I've previously said , however, there are good liberal reasons for invading Iraq. And there are good realpolitik reasons for opposing an invasion. The problem is, it's been too easy for conservatives to ridicule the anti-war argument because it usually comes with the whiff of anti-Americanism (Chomsky) or political failure (Gore). [What about Michael Walzer? -ed. There's him and... er, no one]. I have it on good authority that we're going to hear more about the realist argument against attacking Iraq very, very soon. Developing....

Pundits, and some of the blogosphere, want there to be a neat left/right split on whether to invade Iraq. So, we’ve heard a lot of liberal arguments against an invasion and lots of conservative arguments in favor of an attack. As I’ve previously said , however, there are good liberal reasons for invading Iraq. And there are good realpolitik reasons for opposing an invasion. The problem is, it’s been too easy for conservatives to ridicule the anti-war argument because it usually comes with the whiff of anti-Americanism (Chomsky) or political failure (Gore). [What about Michael Walzer? -ed. There’s him and… er, no one]. I have it on good authority that we’re going to hear more about the realist argument against attacking Iraq very, very soon. Developing….

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

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