The New York Sun is arguing against granting a permit for the anti-war march next Saturday:
” we wouldn’t want to overstate the matter, but, at some level, the smaller the crowd, the more likely that President Bush will proceed with his plans to liberate Iraq. And the more likely, in that case, that the Iraqi people will be freed and the citizens of New York will be rescued from the threat of an Iraqi-aided terrorist attack.”Well, yes. You wouldn’t want to overstate the matter. Compare this with another pro-war New Yorker, Nick Denton: ” Even supporters of the war know that the official rationale for war — nukes, links with Al-Qaeda, disrespect for the UN — is bogus. There is a powerful case — involving the defense of Israel, security of oil supplies, and reform of the troublesome Middle East — but mention of these is neither politic nor politically correct.”
Of course, Denton believes that the hyperpower can get away with someting grotesquely impolitic and “politically incorrect” — which means “repugnant to a large section of its own electorate”. This isn’t self-evident. I don’t know — no one knows — whether America is ready to pay the cost of Imperium. But it’s not, quite, too late to say ‘if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime’.