The Open Forum this week at State was William Kristol, speaking on "The Bush Doctrine: Theory and Practice."
It was good to see Kristol live. He speaks about a million words a minute, was gracious and perceptive about his location within the halls of an intellectual institution far more given to diplomacy than war, and full of jokes.
His basic premise was that we need to intervene more, worldwide, and should have done so in Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Kosovo, and he was glad we were bringing some form of democracy to Iraq. He divided up the modern era into three ages, the Cold War era, the 1990s era of hope, and the post-9/11/01 era where we realize that terrorism.
Just as initially the Cold War strategies were confused as the rules of engagement were being worked out, Kristol thinks the initial "feeling around" for strategies in this new era is natural and proper.
John found his logic and arguments much less genuine than they needed to be. Perhaps I'll be able to have himm post a running commentary on the speech. I haven't transcribed my notes, but I think the official transcript will be up soon and I'd rather wait for it.
Posted by argus at October 2, 2003 04:59 PM