If you are for the Iraq war, which anti-war pundit do you respect the most and why?
If you are against the Iraq war, which pro-war pundit do you respect the most and why?
The reason I ask this is that I believe that constructive debate can only occur when either side can understand the logic of their opponent, and when both parties are willing to be pragamatic and realisitc. That’s why I asked, and its my opinion.
And for this question, when I say “pundit” I mean anyone that tries to argue the case for his or her chosen side. I guess it could be a journalist or professor, or even someone on this board. Hopefully somebody we can all read about.
I’ll start my opinion:
I am anti-war, but I respect Tom Friedman’s pro-war opinions the most. He is a little jingoistic at times (trying to coin multiple catch-phrases!) but he does have some good points. When he addresses the issues, he uses many of the points of the anti-war crowd to have a pragmatic approach to the issues. When discussing the post-war iraq situation, he does mention the good that can come of it and he appears to believe that it will be worth it if we take the right measures. He even believes that we should try regime change in Syria and lebanon. But lebanon doesn’t exactly have a regime now. He is critical of the mistakes that have been made, but does a rational job of explaining why there should be change in the middle east and he does have experience to back it up. I do not share the same optimism that he does, but I do believe that he is a voice of reason in the pro-war camp.