‘The Question Not Being Discussed Is Whether the War Is Just or Necessary’
In a new book, a Yale historian argues that Washington is setting a dangerous international precedent for permanent war.
“War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it,” Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman wrote in 1864 in the midst of the U.S. Civil War. Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee remarked two years earlier, “It is well that war is so terrible. Otherwise we should grow too fond of it.” Yet more than 150 years later, the United States has done both: refined war and even grown somewhat fond of it—or at least is not minding it as much.
Michael Hirsh is a columnist for Foreign Policy. He is the author of two books: Capital Offense: How Washington’s Wise Men Turned America’s Future Over to Wall Street and At War With Ourselves: Why America Is Squandering Its Chance to Build a Better World. Twitter: @michaelphirsh
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