I have just read the piece by Dan Froomkin that Ramesh linked to below. Froomkin writes, “Krauthammer’s core argument then is that the ends justify the means.” Well, of course they do — they sometimes do. And anyone who doesn’t realize that has not yet graduated from kindergarten. I have given WFB’s example, below, of the two men who push old ladies (one into the way of an onrushing bus, one out of it). You can come up with hundreds of different examples, in very little time. How about putting someone in prison? How about shooting someone? How about administering risky medicines? Etc., etc.
A further word: I wish people like Dan Froomkin had to be responsible, just for a day, for keeping American citizens safe from terrorist attack. I think it would sober them up.
Well, come to think of it, people like Froomkin are now in charge. And we’ll see how sober they get, as the months and years roll by. Lenin’s nasty, true line endures: You may not like war, but war likes you. Unfortunately.