Christopher has given an answer to this question on numerous occasions. Most recently: We (and not the Royal "We") are in a long war against Islamic terrorism, with you guys going off to that killing field over there to toughen yourselves up so later you'll be ready to keep on fighting when we send you on over to the next killing field, while I stay here in DC dining out with my neocon friends (the only ones I've got left), insulting waiters, and giving you my unreserved moral support. This toughening up argument flies in the face of the sad fact that the average US soldier is a total nervous wr.. wr.. wreck within t.. t.. t.. two years. Like those long-life Gillette razors, even the sharpest blades tend to loose their edge rather quickly in modern guerilla warfare. But as Carl Hermon reminds us, "Iraq and Afghanistan don't need US troops for security. They can ask the UN if they want help." After all, that's what the UN is there for.
One of the arguments for US troops to remain in the two countries we invaded is that even if our wars were mistakes, it’s our duty to stay until those countries can manage their own security. If US troops leave, we’ll subject civilians to escalating violence.
As eminent Princeton philosopher Harry Frankfurt distinguished in his 2005 Bestseller as a strictly academic term, that rhetoric is bullshit.
When political “leadership” makes that argument, it’s a lie of omission. Without the comprehensive information that Iraq and Afghanistan have full authority within their governments to make that determination for themselves, that statement is misleading Americans into thinking that US security is their only option. It is not.
Speaking On Bullshit, Professor Frankfurt's book of that title is new to me, but it looks absolutely fascinating. According to the website intro:
One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted. Most people are rather confident of their ability to recognize bullshit and to avoid being taken in by it. So the phenomenon has not aroused much deliberate concern. We have no clear understanding of what bullshit is, why there is so much of it, or what functions it serves. And we lack a conscientiously developed appreciation of what it means to us. In other words, as Harry Frankfurt writes, "we have no theory."
Frankfurt, one of the world's most influential moral philosophers, attempts to build such a theory here. With his characteristic combination of philosophical acuity, psychological insight, and wry humor, Frankfurt proceeds by exploring how bullshit and the related concept of humbug are distinct from lying. He argues that bullshitters misrepresent themselves to their audience not as liars do, that is, by deliberately making false claims about what is true. In fact, bullshit need not be untrue at all.
Rather, bullshitters seek to convey a certain impression of themselves without being concerned about whether anything at all is true. They quietly change the rules governing their end of the conversation so that claims about truth and falsity are irrelevant. Frankfurt concludes that although bullshit can take many innocent forms, excessive indulgence in it can eventually undermine the practitioner's capacity to tell the truth in a way that lying does not. Liars at least acknowledge that it matters what is true. By virtue of this, Frankfurt writes, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.
In addition to the English version, the book has already been translated into 15 other languages. Unfortunately, though, it is yet to appear in Bilge, Piffle, Mumbo Jumbo or Gobbledygook, so Hitchens fanboys and assorted Decents the world over will have to wait a while to read it yet.
“The enemies of intolerance cannot be tolerant." • "If it is an offense to justice to hold people who may have been victims of mistaken identity or of vendettas by other factions, then it is also an offense to justice to release psychopathic killers who believe that they have divine permission to throw acid in the faces of girls who want to attend school." • "Don't be such a lesbian!
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