The Right War?: The Conservative Debate on Iraq [Hardcover]

Gary Rosen (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 8, 2005

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 truest 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. Its contribution run the gamut from protests to second thoughts to full-throated endorsements, and represent a vivid sampling of the ideological currents likely to influence the Bush administration in its ongoing efforts in Iraq and the wider Middle East. Gary Rosen is Managing Editor of Commentary. He holds a PhD in political science from Harvard and is the author of "American Compact: James Madison and the Problem of Founding." His articles and reviews have appeared in Commentary, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Valuable hindsight and foresight about American foreign policy and the war in Iraq." Former Secretary of State George P. Shultz

"The ideas and controversies described in this striking book will go far to shape American foreign policy in the Bush years and beyond. Every serious student of American foreign policy needs to consult this fresh and comprehensive collection." Walter Russell Mead, Kissinger Senior Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy, Council on Foreign Relations

"A fascinating survey of state-of-the-art thinking on U.S. foreign policy, a lively debate between realists and neoconservatives, and an excellent intellectual guide for the perplexed." Josef Joffe, Editor, Die Zeit and Abramowitz Fellow, Hoover Institution at Stanford

"This collection is an indispensable guide to the most intellectually interesting and politically important debate in the U.S. on the war in Iraq. It should be on the shelf of every analyst of contemporary American policy." Anatol Lieven, Senior Research Fellow, New America Foundation

Book Description

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 truest 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. Its contributions run the gamut from protests to second thoughts to full-throated endorsements, and represent a vivid sampling of the ideological currents likely to influence the Bush administration in its ongoing efforts in Iraq and the wider Middle East.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (August 8, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521856817
• ISBN-13: 978-0521856812
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,160,467 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A look at the true diversity of conservative thought on Iraq., September 28, 2005

By 

David J. Gannon (San Antonio, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Right War?: The Conservative Debate on Iraq (Paperback)

For quite a while there, it seemed was an apparent brick wall of unity in favor of the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq among conservatives in America. It just wasn't conceivable that there were actually serious dissenting voices about the war on the right.

This was not a truly accurate picture as Gary Rosen so ably demonstrates in this collection of essays. This collection provides a wide diversity of conservative opinion regarding both the decision to go to war as well as the conduct of the war.

What becomes clear in very short order is that there were in fact serious people on the conservative side who had a wide array of objections to these wars, particularly the War in Iraq.

This book is bound to get a much more pervasive look now that time has passed and the monolithic support for the war amongst the general public has faded. One suspects that many of the authors of these pieces will, over time, begin to get much more exposure in the main stream media as the war drags on and more and more people begin to understand the validity and prescience of these pieces.

There are problems with the book. Rosen limits himself to pieces from a fairly circumscribed time period (2004 and 2005). Some of these are what one can only regard as watered down given their authors-the piece by Buchanan is a good example.

The main lesson of the book is to illustrate that serious voices on the right that should have been heard were not-to the eventual detriment of the country. Perhaps had some of these opinions been seriously considered earlier, we would have proceeded more carefully and successfully in iraq and Afghanistan.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Diversity of Views Presented, August 30, 2005

By 

C. Halpern (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Right War?: The Conservative Debate on Iraq (Paperback)

An amazing diversity of views here, especially for anyone who thinks all conservatives are gung-ho Bushies. Who knew that so many right-wingers were critics of the war or at least of how it's been run?

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as thought-provoking as expected, December 10, 2005

By 

Dustin Stein (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Right War?: The Conservative Debate on Iraq (Paperback)

As an ardent Commentary reader, I was anticipating the release of this edited collection. It was supposed to include many articles and essays on the debate in Iraq. Unfortunately, it is really an anthology that includes no new pieces, and rehashed old arguments from last year. One of the difficult problems in creating a book on public affairs is how quickly ideas enter and exit the mainstream. Unfortunately this book contained ideas that have already been relegated to the intellectual dustbin.

The quality of writers cannot be second-guessed, but the breadth of topics and subjects that their essays cover leaves something to be desired. There is very little diversity among the writers, and although there are prominent conservatives that question the war in the book, the essays presented are not the strongest to make this point. For instance, there are many more eloquent and well argued pieces than Patrick Buchanon's. In fact, he probably does not belong anywhere near this book. The other writers are intellects, policy wonks, and academics, but somehow Mr. Rosen uses Mr. Buchanon's essay as an example of conservatives against the war.

In all honesty, a google search on conservative views of the war will probably return the essays in the book if you search for more than an hour. Mr. Rosen's introductory essay puts some perspective on the purpose of his book, but there needs to be at least another essay or two to discuss the essays as a whole and compare them to each other.