PRETZEL LOGIC

3/31/10

The Wall Street Journal, the former voice of reason and limited government in the U.S. media, will usually go to great lengths to advance what has become over the last ten years or so its most fervent cause—the “supergovernment on a global scale” approach to foreign policy that has characterized the Bush/Obama administration’s worldview. However, the contortions of logic that the Journal routinely uses to cheerlead for the establishment of an American empire have reached new heights with this morning’s (i.e., Wednesday, 3/31’s) op-ed article by Danielle Pletka, vice-president for foreign and defense policy at the American Enterprise Institute and obvious fellow traveler with the Journal as it advances the view that the rest of the world ought to just shut up and take orders from the all knowing, all seeing, all wise U.S. government—or else.

Ms. Pletka, in her article seemingly cheerleading for starting yet a third Middle East War by launching a military strike against Iran, writes the following:

“What of Israel? The mess of U.S.-Israel relations has ironically only bolstered the fears of Arab governments that the current U.S. administration is a feckless ally. If the U.S. won’t stand by Israel, by whom will it stand?”

Hmm…so if we want to curry the favor of Arab governments, what we ought to do is stand by the Israeli government no matter what.

Regardless of what one thinks regarding the desirability of a strike on Iran, the state of U.S.-Israeli relations, or the advisability of heeding the concerns of various Arab governments, one has to admit that Ms. Pletka’s argument that the way to reassure the Arab world is to support the Netanyahu/Lieberman government with unflinching enthusiasm defies logic and common sense.

But the Journal apparently cares little for logic and thoughtful argumentation; the only thing that matters to the Journal is that one’s heart is in what it deems the place. Just look at the Journal’s inexplicable ardor for Sarah Palin.