Crimson Crusader Glenn Kinen® takes on a German intellectual and persuasively argues the case for declaring war on Iraq. Here’s a bit:

Risks must be weighed. There are dangers intrinsic to an American war against Iraq; they are extremely potent dangers. But the alternative is not a maintenance of stability in the Middle East; that is an illusory and temporary dream, so long as Saddam Hussein is devoting Iraq’s resources to making or buying nuclear weapons. It is simply dishonest and immature to frame the choice as war versus peace, or American imperialism versus regional stability, when the price of peace today is very likely a nuclear-armed Iraq tomorrow.

Glenn is exactly right. The most frequent argument against war my students offer is that peace would be better — as if these were two distinct choices. But once again: peace is the desired end of whatever action we take; how we go about achieving peace is what’s under dispute. Arguments that invoke “peace” as an alternative to the U.S.’s considered decision to wage war quite simply beg the question.

But Glenn — what on earth are you doing thinking about Iraq at 3:05 in the am?