Against the sunny predictions of the cruise missile left, Afghanistan is in ruins... The record of Hamid Karzai’s government is blighted by torture, corruption, warlords, and a fraudulent 2009 election. Nor has freedom and safety for Afghanistan’s ever-instrumentalized women come about... All of these outcomes are perfectly predictable and were in fact anticipated by many. As the United States prepares to withdraw most of its forces from Afghanistan, it is worth looking back at the debates many had during the lead-up to and early phases of that war. While it is easy to say in hindsight that such writers as Tariq Ali and Marjorie Cohn were correct to oppose the intervention and that others like Michael Bérubé, Michael Kazin, Todd Gitlin and Michael Walzer were wrong to endorse it, an examination of how the latter group got it wrong is necessary. Clarifying the analytic errors made by the imperialist “left” at the time are important because some have since taken similar approaches to Iraq and more recently to Libya and Syria.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 17:41:28 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015