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| Krauthammer on the debate on war aims |
| 2001-10-05 |
There is a serious debate raging in Washington about war aims. And then there is the caricature debate in which, on the one hand, you have the reasoned, moderate, restrained doves who want very limited war aims. And on the other hand, you have the unreconstructed hawks -- those daring to suggest that the war on terrorism does not stop with Afghanistan -- aching for blood and continents to conquer. Let's begin at the beginning. No one, hawk or dove, sought this war. This war was declared on us. The only question is how to prosecute it. The question is whether after Pearl Harbor our strategic objective should have been (a) destroying the Japanese First Air Fleet that did the deed, or (b) destroying the regime in Tokyo to put Japanese imperialism permanently out of business. The previous generation had no difficulty making that choice. Nor did the president of this generation in his national address on Sept. 20. "Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists and every government that supports them," he said. "And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism." |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |