> > Killing to Save in Syria: When Liberalism is Lethalby Thaddeus > Russell<http://www.mediaite.com/author/thaddeus-russell/> | > 10:59 am, September 3rd, > 2013COLUMN74<http://www.mediaite.com/online/killing-to-save-in-syria-when-liberalism-is-lethal/#disqus_thread> > > > > Ads by > Google<http://www.google.com/url?ct=abg&q=https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/request.py%3Fcontact%3Dabg_afc%26url%3Dhttp://www.mediaite.com/online/killing-to-save-in-syria-when-liberalism-is-lethal%26gl%3DUS%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dca-pub-1524590296130223%26ai0%3DCzxgBRp81Ut28KtPZ0AHGkYGQA5H0_48Dqaa0lX6IjZ_uIxABIOWCtSBQoZbw3fn_____AWDJhqOH1KOAEMgBAqgDAaoEowFP0FMVdA73nUYPwnQRAjNCYF-5D70G7_3XQXtaRwu3cIMlzgALKkElCsalEawEyiZjoWVDks4YTfHFe-t2fAufbBYDiwm3N64T9L3fPmSciN-8WqK7UhrjiyImFxTPrU_lwTt1VIlb8MZRq7IBjzZWVUnnYDPI8BVzPLNcLtuY_NyeJTpOGTB1Bk9_X4QYe7HlyER6bJVF81S-tyb6tlSWgKhgoAYC2AYEgAepocYm&usg=AFQjCNE2DfceEnURHA3ekdguQBanhB4J9g> > > - Is She Cheating On > You?<http://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=CpgIjRp81UsibEqnU0AHItoD4Bb_b78ADr9THoVejlam_OBABIOWCtSBQ2PWorvr_____AWDJhqOH1KOAEKABjd-z-gPIAQGoAwGqBKkBT9CQvIqGMRYY8VkndK6kP8WHeikrrdcd3fTvXp7cYMHIbNOHl8BWIuPQIO1oVbdenEyKxWhdXIJq4HmJ-ORchktBi85BVgOMl_gwWm1EifkuHGBgRyKcVQe8kCtWj-zKBBNgOIRvmbH7QXc0WsSXk1qQSL2qmRZmO56B8A3eZaDrbrzSvQUKE7f4maBu9r6EEvHFNZzurIcHV8A7hQGJLGolI0mSxN3BP4gGAdgGBIAH26DMBQ&num=1&cid=5Gh5I4MQ2grL4PSphujZRP2y&sig=AOD64_1RdHZMfBJT1vm20Gj2RxPuiSZkwA&client=ca-pub-1524590296130223&adurl=http://www.spokeo.com/email-search%3Fg%3Demail_gc_K081500>1) > Enter Her E-Mail Address 2) See Hidden Pics & Social Profiles Now! > > Spokeo.com/Cheating-Spouse-Search<http://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=CpgIjRp81UsibEqnU0AHItoD4Bb_b78ADr9THoVejlam_OBABIOWCtSBQ2PWorvr_____AWDJhqOH1KOAEKABjd-z-gPIAQGoAwGqBKkBT9CQvIqGMRYY8VkndK6kP8WHeikrrdcd3fTvXp7cYMHIbNOHl8BWIuPQIO1oVbdenEyKxWhdXIJq4HmJ-ORchktBi85BVgOMl_gwWm1EifkuHGBgRyKcVQe8kCtWj-zKBBNgOIRvmbH7QXc0WsSXk1qQSL2qmRZmO56B8A3eZaDrbrzSvQUKE7f4maBu9r6EEvHFNZzurIcHV8A7hQGJLGolI0mSxN3BP4gGAdgGBIAH26DMBQ&num=1&cid=5Gh5I4MQ2grL4PSphujZRP2y&sig=AOD64_1RdHZMfBJT1vm20Gj2RxPuiSZkwA&client=ca-pub-1524590296130223&adurl=http://www.spokeo.com/email-search%3Fg%3Demail_gc_K081500> > > In the debate on Syria, progressive pundits are letting us know that > do-gooders can’t be peaceniks. Recently, pro-war commentators on liberal > media outlets have greatly outnumbered the doves, with MSNBC leading the > way. These humanitarian interventionists understand what the most famous > progressives of all time made clear, that the obligation to rescue the > unfortunate comes with an obligation to kill. What they don’t understand or > willfully ignore is the lesson of history, which is that when the United > States has taken on the responsibility for the well-being of humanity, it > has destroyed far more lives than it has saved. > > Last week on MSNBC’s *All In*, *Chris > Hayes<http://www.mediaite.com/power-grid/person/?q=Chris+Hayes> > * featured a host of left-of-center hawks, including Rep.*Eliot Engel* > (D-NY), *Julia Ioffe* of *The New Republic,* Iraqi-American writer * > Zainab Salbi*, who called for a “long-term intervention,” *Mouaz Moustafa*, > a representative of the Syrian rebels, and *Tom Perriello* of the Center > for American Progress, who has argued > elsewhere<http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/08/why-a-democrat-who-opposed-the-iraq-war-backs-intervening-in-syria/279221/> > not > just for missile strikes against Assad but for “a more aggressive posture > that would potentially include regime transition.” On his show, *Chris > Matthews <http://www.mediaite.com/power-grid/person/?q=Chris+Matthews>* > justified > bombing the Assad regime by > declaring<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyNlRY7gHbw> that > even “Hitler didn’t use” chemical weapons. The liberal network’s call to > war climaxed with a stunning piece of > demagoguery<http://www.nbcnews.com/id/45755883/ns/msnbc-the_last_word/vp/52852321#52852321> > on > Wednesday’s *Last Word*, when reporter *Richard Engel* put a 10-year-old > Syrian refugee girl on camera to say, “Does [Obama] want his kids to be > like us? … When we get bigger, we’re going to write, ‘Obama didn’t help > us.’” > > Like many liberals who are asked to explain why Syria will be a good war > if Iraq was a bad one,*Dexter Filkins* in the *New Yorker* > wrote<http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/08/chemical-weapons-and-the-syrian-question.html>, > “This time it’s different… What can America do? It’s not unreasonable > to ask whether even a well-intentioned American effort to save > Syrians might fail, or whether such an effort might pull America into a > terrible quagmire…. But how much longer are we going to allow those > questions to prevent us from trying?” > > Even though *Eugene > Robinson<http://www.mediaite.com/power-grid/person/?q=Eugene+Robinson> > * of the *Washington Post* is aware that “History says don’t do it” and > that “Most Americans say don’t do it,” he still > insisted<http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-08-26/opinions/41450525_1_chemical-weapons-president-obama-nerve-gas> > that > “President Obama has to punish Syrian dictator *Bashar al-Assad*‘s > homicidal regime with a military strike — and hope that history and the > people are wrong.” > > *The New Republic*, which has guided much of American liberals’ thinking > since the early 20th century, has been chock-full of bellicose advice for > the president. Senior editor *Paul Berman* > wrote<http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114481/liberals-advice-obama-syria> > that > we should use overwhelming military force to “help our own faction > overthrow the dictator.” Editor Leon Wieseltier > called<http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114488/leon-wieseltier-chemical-weapons-syria> > plans > for limited military strikes too timid, “a cop-out in the shape of a cruise > missile,” and insisted that U.S. power should be “used for good and high > purposes.” > > This is not a new position for *The New Republic* or progressives. A > century ago the magazine, along with most progressive intellectuals, called > for the U.S. to intervene in World War I in order to save innocent > Europeans from German aggressions. President *Woodrow Wilson*, who > declared <http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=65379> that the U.S. had > the duty to “lift the burdens of mankind in the future and show the paths > of freedom to all the world,” took that advice. Some 116,000 U.S. > servicemen were killed and more than 200,000 wounded in the war, while > countless thousands of German conscripts were cut down by American steel in > what many historians now see as an exercise in imperial competition that > laid the ground for the rise of fascism. > > Though the Holocaust is often invoked by humanitarian interventionists, > the results of the American assault on the Nazi regime were hardly a > victory for humanity. American bombers not only terminated a substantial > portion of the civilian populations in France and Germany, but there is > also substantial evidence that the Nazi leadership accelerated the killing > of Jews as a result of American entry into the war. > > Because liberals are so often accused of being “soft” on communism, it is > now largely forgotten that the Cold War was their war. *Harry Truman* invaded > Korea “to win the world back to peace and Christianity” but was left with a > stalemate, an implacably anti-American regime in North Korea, 37,000 > American casualties, and an untold number of ordinary Koreans in graves. > Similarly, *John F. Kennedy* followed through on his > vow<http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=8032> to > uplift “those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling > to break the bonds of mass misery” by escalating the disastrous war in > Vietnam. His successor, *Lyndon B. Johnson*, argued that his “Great > Society” social welfare programs were consistent with the full-scale > assault that he launched against Vietnamese communists, which resulted in > the deaths of more than 58,000 Americans and an estimated 3 million > Vietnamese soldiers and civilians. > > More recent progressive-led humanitarian interventions were smaller-scale > but yielded similar results.*Bill Clinton*‘s incursion into Somalia > killed 18 American soldiers and hundreds of Somali militiamen and > civilians, and brought no improvement to the world’s most misgoverned > country. Likewise, NATO’s bombing of Kosovo left hundreds of civilians dead > and gave the upper hand to the Kosovo Liberation Army — an organization > described<http://www.cfr.org/terrorism/terrorist-groups-political-legitimacy/p10159#p4> > by > Clinton’s own special envoy to the Balkans, *Robert Gelbard*, as “without > any questions, a terrorist group” — which conducted its own campaign of > ethnic cleansing after the war. > > History indeed says don’t do it. But as the recent talk on Syria shows, > liberals are so committed to their self-imposed role as savior that they > will do it anyway. Perhaps we need to save the world from saviors, instead. > > [*image via Shutterstock <http://www.shutterstock.com/>*] > – – > *Thaddeus Russell teaches history and American Studies at Occidental > College and is the author of* A Renegade History of the United States*.* > * > * >
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