The Right War?
The Conservative Debate on Iraq

Contains the most influential voices in the debate among conservatives over American tactics in Iraq.

Gary Rosen (Edited by)

9780521673181, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 15 August 2005

264 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.354 kg

'… this book provides a fine overview of the battle betweeen pet ideological prejudices and concern for the common good that is currently playing itself out on more than one front where the American right is concerned.' International Affairs

To declare oneself a conservative in American foreign policy is to enter immediately into a fractious, long-standing debate. Should America retreat from the world, deal with the world as it is, or try to transform it in its own image? Which school of thought - traditionalist, realist, or neoconservative - is closest to the country's ideals and interests? With the dramatic shift in American foreign policy since 9/11, these differences have been brought into stark relief, especially by the Bush administration's decision to go to war in Iraq. This book brings together the most articulate and influential voices in the debate among conservatives over the tactics and strategy of America's engagement in Iraq. The collection runs the gamut from protests to second thoughts to full-throated endorsements. The contributors are major conservative spokesmen whose ideological influences have a role in guiding the Bush administration as it formulates its policy goals for Iraq.

Introduction Gary Rosen
1. 'Iraq's Future - and Ours' Victor Davis Hanson
2. 'The right war for the right reasons' Robert Kagan and William Kristol
3. 'Iraq: losing the American way' James Kurth
4. 'Intervention with a vision' Henry A. Kissinger
5. 'An end to illusion' the Editors of National Review
6. 'Quitters' Andrew Sullivan
7. 'A more humble hawk'/'crisis of confidence' David Brooks
8. 'Time for Bush to see the realities of Iraq' George F. Will
9. 'Iraq may survive, but the dream is dead' Fouad Ajami
10. 'The perils of hegemony' Owen Harries
11. 'Like it's 1999: how we could have done it right' Fareed Zakaria
12. 'Reality Check - this is war'/'In modern imperialism, U.S. needs to walk softly' Max Boot
13. 'A time for reckoning: ten lessons to take away from Iraq' Andrew J. Bacevich
14. 'World War IV: how it started, what it means, and why we have to win' Norman Podhoretz
15. 'The neoconservative moment' Francis Fukuyama
16. 'In defense of democratic realism' Charles Krauthammer
17. 'Stay the course!' is not enough' Patrick J. Buchanan
18. 'Realism's shining morality' Robert F. Ellsworth and Dimitri K. Simes
19. 'Has Iraq weakened us?' Victor Davis Hanson
20. 'Democracy and the Bush doctrine' Charles R. Kesler
21. 'A time for humility' Eliot A. Cohen
22. 'Birth of a democracy' Reuel Marc Gerecht.

Subject Areas: International law [LB], International relations [JPS], Political structure & processes [JPH], Politics & government [JP]