What is Liberal-Left pacifism all about, and is it any different than defeatism? I have always viewed it as a sort of knee-jerk anti-Americanism; an unhealthy death wish. Why is the battle in Lebanon termed a "crisis"? Why is a cease-fire "urgent" here, and not in Darfur? Paul at Powerline suggests that the notion of war by the clock is a mental compromise between pacifism and the unwillingness to totally abandon the idea of self-defence. One quote:
The concept of fighting a war for a limited, pre-established duration is, to put it gently, a post-modern one. Prior to the left's call for a time-table in Iraq, I'm not aware of any precedent for this peculiar approach to warfare. So it is fair to ask, what are the reasons why Israel should be allowed only a few weeks to finish a military operation it initiated in order to prevent its citizens from being bombed by an enemy committed to Israel's destruction?
Read the whole thing.
Update: And for more truth on the subject, you can hear it from the horse's mouth - Tom Hayden - via HH. And yes, may I say it again: I didn't leave the Dems; the Dems left me.
Update: And the NYT predictably adopts the Syrian view of the world. Blue Crab. God forbid they adopt an American view of the world, which would not be cool or fashionable.
