That’s a good point and Hanson has been saying this for some time going back at least to the publication of his book Carnage and Culture. If the title isn’t a hint, the “editorial reviews” spell it out. The impression that I’m left with (from reading the book years back) is that he accepts the necessity (or the prudence) for the need to fight with all one’s might but also accepts an unearned guilt. Still, if one can ignore his judgment he still argues with extensive historical reference that it is a free society that produces both the will to fight and the means to fight that provide the decisive edge.

However, I suggest that an unearned guilt, if widely accepted, will demoralize and undermine that will. Speaking of unearned guilt, this also reminds me of Paul Johnson’s lament (in Modern Times) that the British people accepted the “utilitarian” policy of bombing German territory including the near certain if not deliberate killing of civilians.

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Posted by Jason_Pappas to Thrutch at 4/17/2006 12:21:38 PM