I am inherently suspicious of all-or-nothing arguments like the one offered here.
Just because you don't tear down every building on the block, doesn't mean you are insufficiently serious about urban redevelopment.
You choose a pencil instead of a pen because of the need at hand, not because you are more or less serious about your drawing. It is a choice of media. Seriousness actually has nothing to do with it.
So I thought I'd offer up a more useful rule of thumb: The United States' foreign policy toolkit can hold more than two things. Indifference and total war cannot and should not be our only options.
Limited war may work in Libya, or it may not. But it is an option that should be available to us.
I am inherently suspicious of all-or-nothing arguments like the one offered here.
Just because you don't tear down every building on the block, doesn't mean you are insufficiently serious about urban redevelopment.
You choose a pencil instead of a pen because of the need at hand, not because you are more or less serious about your drawing. It is a choice of media. Seriousness actually has nothing to do with it.
So I thought I'd offer up a more useful rule of thumb: The United States' foreign policy toolkit can hold more than two things. Indifference and total war cannot and should not be our only options.
Limited war may work in Libya, or it may not. But it is an option that should be available to us.