Counting the cost and misjudging morality

Edmund Burke was an English-Irish statesman and philosopher who is seen as the father of modern conservatism (the original political meaning, not the religious meaning nor the twisted Bush meaning). He supported the American colonies in their dispute with King George III. He wrote this about the American Revolution:

A conscientious man would be cautious how he dealt in blood, he would feel some apprehension at being called to a tremendous account for engaging in so deep a play, without any sort of knowledge of the game.

Burke wasn't opposed to war, but felt war should be waged to reduce the loss of blood, treasure, and reputation without corresponding gains. This calculation is most important if the cause is weak and is on foreign soil. People, even presidents, make mistakes and that in itself isn't a reason to criticize them. But a thoughtful conservative (or anyone) will recognize when things go wrong and will work to correct them. While Bush does not understand that concept and Cheney has a complete disregard for democratic accountability, there are others who recognize their error of their earlier support for the Iraq war. Andrew Sullivan, writing at Slate, is one of those. His reasoning for his change of view include these points:

Sullivan was for the war partly from historical narcissism. He had lived through the Cold War and felt the walls of tyranny would fall if we had the will and gumption to use our military force. But the military force to get rid of Saddam is not the same as building a stable government in its place and the cost of doing so was not considered.

Sullivan chose war through narrow moralism. His personal tally of the pros and cons of the war did not include that war itself is a monster with possibly evil consequences that should be weighed.

Sullivan says he is guilty of unconservatism, not being conservative enough in not understanding the depth of the divide between Sunni and Shiite.

Sullivan says he misread Bush, who campaigned in 2000 as a unifying moderate Republican. The missed attribute wasn't incompetence, but morality. He did not see that Bush would use 9/11 to tear up the Geneva Conventions and use torture and lie about it.

I certainly never believed that a war I supported for the sake of freedom would actually use as its central weapon the deepest antithesis of freedom—the destruction of human autonomy and dignity and will that is torture.

Sullivan didn't see the effect the war would have on Iraq. He also didn't see the effect Bush's lack of morality would have on America.

The original Slate article is here.

Commentary (including about Burke) with extensive quotes from the Slate article is here.