tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post4680979100857272973..comments2024-01-01T01:47:59.449+02:00Comments on Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: Learning to Wage War?Yaacovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835192312242961481noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-63441956219013216282009-04-13T22:58:00.000+03:002009-04-13T22:58:00.000+03:00As a P.S., I wonder if you have ever seen the exce...As a P.S., I wonder if you have ever seen the exceptional 1943 English film by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp.Jay Adlerhttp://sadredearth.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-50330471313369815042009-04-13T22:33:00.000+03:002009-04-13T22:33:00.000+03:00Yaacov, Cole isn’t worth discussing, but as to Gre...Yaacov, Cole isn’t worth discussing, but as to Greenwald and your closing remarks, Bush, Cheney, et al. have made finding the balance more difficult. To a great degree, this is an argument in the U.S. between those who believed the post 9/11 period to require law enforcement measures and those who recognized a new kind of warfare, with a new kind of combatant. This is, of course, not a new reality for Israel. In the U.S. this division was largely along left/right lines – but not exclusively. There were those on the left who saw the altered paradigm for war and supported new, hard thinking about it. Unfortunately, as in every other way, the Bush administration was the wrong one at the wrong time. Its constitutional subversions – best and most wholly summarized by its promotion of the dictatorial “unitary executive” notion – betrayed the reluctant, patriotic faith many placed in it. Instead, all Bush did was reaffirm a core American belief that increased power will be increasingly abused. Obama appears, perhaps, to be a true liberal who is also truly pragmatic and, maybe, even tough – a rare bird in American politics. But short of another 9/11 catastrophe, there may have been only one chance at finding both the balance you speak of and a national consensus for it – and Bush squandered it. I’ll look forward to the further thoughts on the subject you suggest may come.Jay Adlerhttp://sadredearth.comnoreply@blogger.com