In his latest column, Antiwar.com editor and chief columnist Justin Raimondo lashes out at what he calls the "left face of the war party;" namely, left-wing military hawks.
Referring to Kos' post from last week, Raimondo writes:
"The pure partisanship of some war opponents is indicated by this post by one of the founders and "leaders" of DailyKos.com, the "netroots" of the Democratic party machine:
(more on the flip)
'I'm not anti-war. As I've said before, I'm a military hawk. I supported the Afghanistan War and I supported the Bosnia and Kosovo interventions. I'm not one of these touchy-feely hippy types that thinks war is inherently bad. I laugh at people who think they can 'visualize peace.'
'Unlike most people reading this, I grew up in a country at war. I've seen the effects first-hand. I also served in the Army. To me war isn't a video game or an abstract concept. It's real. Yet sometimes, many times, military force is a force for good. There are evil people in the world, doing evil things. And all the sanctions in the world, all the strongly worded denunciations, will never have the effect of a 1,000 pound bomb.
'I oppose the Iraq War. But I refuse to be labeled 'anti-war.' I'm not. I'm anti this war. Why? Because I'm a war pragmatist. I understand the costs of war, but I also understand the potential benefits.'
So Markos Moulitsas Zúniga grew up in a country at war - so what? If he liked it so much, why doesn't he go back there?
Yeah, he served in the Army - the same Army that trained and equipped the death squads that tortured his own people, in an illegal war that was run by some of the same neocons who are now turning Iraq into a pile of bloodstained rubble. Is it really necessary to point this out?
Spare me the "war pragmatism" of Señor Zúniga. He supported the rape of Yugoslavia - a country that had never attacked us, represented no threat to us, and that we bombed without bothering to go to the UN. The very same people who swallowed the war propaganda of the Clintonites - all of it subsequently exposed as grotesque lies - are now howling that they were bamboozled into war by the Bushies. Well, isn't that just too f*cking bad?! These people can dish it out, but they sure can't take it."
Harsh words, no doubt. And while I wasn't a huge fan Kos's post, I think Raimondo is quite unfair in his criticism. To offer just one example, I think it was perfectly reasonable for Kos to emphasize his childhood in a wartorn country - he's seen things that Raimondo hasn't, and understands the nature of violence in a way that Raimondo never will.
But the significance of Raimondo's column transcends any qualms I might have with its content.
Although Antiwar.com has been, on occasion, misrepresented here on DailyKos, Raimondo's latest tirade certainly illustrates the fractures that underlie the precarious alliance between many on the left and the paleoconservative, antiwar right.
