Returning the favor

Kevin Drum saves a post by linking to me, so let me return the favor — he’s dead-on in this post: Although bloggers and the political media have been talking for a while about the allegedly real reasons we’re in Iraq — drain the swamp, war of civilizations, reduce pressure on Israel’s flank, the domino ...

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.

Kevin Drum saves a post by linking to me, so let me return the favor -- he's dead-on in this post:

Kevin Drum saves a post by linking to me, so let me return the favor — he’s dead-on in this post:

Although bloggers and the political media have been talking for a while about the allegedly real reasons we’re in Iraq — drain the swamp, war of civilizations, reduce pressure on Israel’s flank, the domino theory of bringing democracy to the Middle East, etc. etc. — it’s true that George Bush has not once put his name to any of this stuff, has he?…. Why doesn’t Bush tell us why it’s important to stay in Iraq? I mean really tell us. Not just in negative terms (“we won’t be scared away”) but in positive terms of what his goal is. What does he really, truly want to accomplish? And why are his conservative supporters letting him get away with staying silent? Surely they must know that America’s willingness to expend hundreds of lives and billions of dollars depends on believing that our goal is worth it. The longer that Bush avoids talking about it, the more likely it is that public support will decline and the cherished goals of the national greatness conservatives will go up in smoke.

Indeed.

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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