Debating War: Why Arguments Opposing American Wars and Interventions Fail

243 Pages·2015·1.904 MB·English

by  David J. Lorenzo

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DEBATING WAR
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Di WhatargumentshavecriticsofAmericanwarsandinterventionsputforward,and
n what arguments do they currently employ? Thomas Jefferson, Henry Thoreau,
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S John Calhoun, the Anti-Imperialist League, Herbert Hoover, Charles Lindbergh,
a, MartinLuther King Jr.,and Ron Paul (amongothers) have criticized proposals to
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n interveneinothercountries,enter wars,acquireforeign territory,and engage ina
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f forward defense posture. Despite cogent objections, they have also generally lost
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a the argument. Why do they lose?
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f Thisbookprovides answerstothesequestionsthroughasurveyofoppositional
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y arguments over time, augmented by the views of contemporary critics, including
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i those of Ron Paul, Chalmers Johnson and Noam Chomsky. Author David J.
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er Lorenzo demonstrates how and why a significant number of arguments are dis-
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ni missed as irrelevant, unpatriotic, overly pessimistic, or radically out of the main-
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stream. Other lines of reasoning might provide a compelling critique of wars and
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y interventions from a wide variety of perspectives—and still lose. Evaluating
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d oppositional arguments in detail allows the reader to understand problems likely
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d to be faced in the context of policy discussions, to grasp important political dif-
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o ferences and the potential for alliances among critics, and ultimately to influence
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wn decision-making and America’s place in the international power structure.
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David J.Lorenzo is Associate Professor in the College of International Affairs at
National Chengchi University.
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DEBATING WAR
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y Why Arguments Opposing American
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Firstpublished2016
byRoutledge
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andbyRoutledge
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1 RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
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y ©2016DavidJ.Lorenzo
ar TherightofDavidJ.Lorenzotobeidentifiedasauthorofthisworkhasbeen
u assertedbyhiminaccordancewithsections77and78oftheCopyright,
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b DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
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Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedor
5 utilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,now
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6 knownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinany
5 informationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwritingfromthe
4: publishers.
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t Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksorregistered
] a trademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationandexplanationwithoutintent
o toinfringe.
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e BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
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D AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
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a LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
S Acatalogrecordforthisbookhasbeenrequested
a,
ni ISBN:978-1-138-92688-2(hbk)
r ISBN:978-1-138-92689-9(pbk)
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f ISBN:978-1-315-68204-4(ebk)
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f byTaylor&FrancisBooks
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CONTENTS
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Di List of Illustrations vi
n Acknowledgments vii
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ni 1 Opposition to Wars and Interventions 1
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if 2 From the Early Republic to the Spanish–American War 21
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f 3 The Great War and World War II 58
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y 4 Arguments in the Cold War and Post-Cold War Eras 86
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er 5 Ron Paul: The Importance of Natural Order 124
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U 6 Noam Chomsky: Hegemony and manufactured consent 145
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y 7 Chalmers Johnson: The military empire 164
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e 8 Comparisons, Analysis and Conclusions 181
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w Bibliography 221
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D Index 230
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
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Di Figure
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a 8.1 General groupings of critical foundations 191
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li 8.1 Arguments by category 182
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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Di My thanks to my colleagues at the College of International Affairs at National
n Chengchi University for their support for this project, especially Professor Ming
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S Lee, Dean of the College; Professor To-hai Liou, Chair of the Department of
a, Diplomacy; Professor Chung-chian Teng, Professor Ren-rang Chyou, and my
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n research assistant Ashley Hsieh. I am also grateful to Professor Lucia Chen of the
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f Graduate Institute of the Americas at Tamkang University and the participants in
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al the conference “Challenges to US Foreign Policy in the 21st Century” held at
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f TamkangUniversityonMay26,2014fortheircomments.Ialsowish to acknowl-
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y edge the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies for a non-
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i residential fellowship at its Washington, DC campus during the summer of
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e 2014. My thanks as well to my family for its support.
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ni Some data contained in Chapter 4 were first published in “Opposition to the
U Libyan Intervention Among the American Public,” Tamkang Journal of Interna-
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y tional Affairs, Vol. 17, No. 3 (2014). Parts of Chapter 7 were published as “Noam
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d Chomsky and Chalmers Johnson: Critical Views of American Foreign Policy,” in
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d LuciaChen,ed.,ChallengestoUSForeignPolicyinthe21stCentury(Taipei:Tamkang
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o University Press, 2014).
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1
OPPOSITION TO WARS
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1 AND INTERVENTIONS
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Di Introduction
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a First,manyofyouhaveasked,won’tthisputusonaslipperyslopetoanotherwar?
ia, S OAnveetmeraannwpurottiettmoomreebthluatntwlye:a“rTeh“isstinllartieocnoviesrsiincgkfaronmd toiruerdinovfowlvaerm”e…ntMinaInryaqo.”f
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r you have asked a broader question: Why should we get involved at all in a place
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f that’s so complicated, and where—as one person wrotetome—“those whocome
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al after Assad may be enemies of human rights? … Finally, many of you have asked:
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f Why not leave this to other countries, or seek solutions short of force? As several
o peoplewrotetome,“Weshouldnotbetheworld’s policeman.”1
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r When Barack Obama went to the airwaves to make his case for a possible
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v American military intervention in Syria in 2013, he joined a public debate over
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U thenecessity,utilityandmoralityofinterventionsthathasbeenongoingformore
y [ than200years.Partofhiscontributiontothatdebatewashisacknowledgmentof
b objections to his proposal. Critics argued that the costs of intervention were too
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e high; that interventions lead to unintended consequences that make the scene of
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a interventions worse off, and that interventions reveal hubris on the part of the
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nl US, which cannot set the world right by using force.
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This book is an exploration of such arguments in general. What arguments
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D have opponents used over time? How should we understand them? How do
those arguments fit within the frameworks of general policy and foreign policy
debates? What relationship exists between those arguments and the successes and
failures of the opposition?