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2 - The Right War for the Right Reasons

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 August 2009

Robert Kagan
Affiliation:
Contributing editor of the Weekly Standard; Senior associate Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Author of Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order
William Kristol
Affiliation:
Editor of the Weekly Standard; Co-author (with Lawrence F. Kaplan) of The War Over Iraq: Saddam's Tyranny and America's Mission
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Summary

With all the turmoil surrounding david kay's comments on the failure to find stockpiles of biological and chemical weap-ons in Iraq, it is time to return to first principles, and to ask the question: Was it right to go to war?

Critics of the war, and of the Bush administration, have seized on the failure to find stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But while his weapons were a key part of the case for removing Saddam, that case was always broader. Saddam's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction was inextricably intertwined with the nature of his tyrannical rule, his serial aggression, his defiance of international obligations, and his undeniable ties to a variety of terrorists, from Abu Nidal to al Qaeda (a topic we will not cover in detail here, rather referring readers to Stephen F. Hayes's reporting in this magazine over the past year). Together, this pattern of behavior made the removal of Saddam desirable and necessary, in the judgment of both the Clinton and Bush administrations. That judgment was and remains correct.

It is fashionable to sneer at the moral case for liberating an Iraqi people long brutalized by Saddam's rule. Critics insist mere oppression was not sufficient reason for war, and in any case that it was not Bush's reason. In fact, of course, it was one of Bush's reasons, and the moral and humanitarian purpose provided a compelling reason for a war to remove Saddam.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Right War?
The Conservative Debate on Iraq
, pp. 18 - 35
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2005

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  • The Right War for the Right Reasons
    • By Robert Kagan, Contributing editor of the Weekly Standard; Senior associate Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Author of Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order, William Kristol, Editor of the Weekly Standard; Co-author (with Lawrence F. Kaplan) of The War Over Iraq: Saddam's Tyranny and America's Mission
  • Edited by Gary Rosen
  • Book: The Right War?
  • Online publication: 10 August 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511509896.003
Available formats
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Save book to Dropbox

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  • The Right War for the Right Reasons
    • By Robert Kagan, Contributing editor of the Weekly Standard; Senior associate Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Author of Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order, William Kristol, Editor of the Weekly Standard; Co-author (with Lawrence F. Kaplan) of The War Over Iraq: Saddam's Tyranny and America's Mission
  • Edited by Gary Rosen
  • Book: The Right War?
  • Online publication: 10 August 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511509896.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Right War for the Right Reasons
    • By Robert Kagan, Contributing editor of the Weekly Standard; Senior associate Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Author of Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order, William Kristol, Editor of the Weekly Standard; Co-author (with Lawrence F. Kaplan) of The War Over Iraq: Saddam's Tyranny and America's Mission
  • Edited by Gary Rosen
  • Book: The Right War?
  • Online publication: 10 August 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511509896.003
Available formats
×