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Comments posted on New York Times site over William Kristol's article: The Next War President:

 

http://community.nytimes.com/article/comments/2009/01/19/opinion/19kristol.html

 

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January 19th, 2009 2:46 pm

 

William Kristol has already declared that Obama will be a war president, even though Obama has yet to be swearing as US President. The most important member of the Neo-con group has not been satisfied with blood bath and carnage in Bush era. He is once again goading the new president to 'finish' the unfinished business. Apparently he believes in perpetual war for 'perpetual peace- -- the peace of the graves. Fortunately, Obama is made of different timber. One hopes he had learned from the plight of Bush, so unabashedly manipulated by Neo-cons, that he will keep these warmongers at double arms lengths. Iraq may be a success for the US, but what about hundreds and thousands civilian dead. As on Israel following its Gaza genocidal invasion, the pressure world over is mounting that all such warmongers should be brought to justice over their war crimes and violations of human rights of millions of world citizens. 

— Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai, India

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/19/opinion/19kristol.html?th&emc=th

Op-Ed Columnist

 

 

By WILLIAM KRISTOL

 

Published: January 18, 2009 

 

In synagogue on Saturday, before saying the customary prayer for our country, the rabbi asked us to reflect on the fact that a new president would be inaugurated on Tuesday, and urged us to focus a little more intently than usual on the prayer. The congregants did so, it seemed to me, as we read, "Our God and God of our ancestors: We ask your blessings for our country — for its government, for its leaders and advisers, and for all who exercise just and rightful authority ..."

Barack Obama will assume that just and rightful authority at noon on Tuesday. After a dinner with him that I attended last week, as we said our goodbyes, I overheard one of my fellow conservatives say softly to the president-elect, "Sir, I'll be praying for you." Obama seemed to pause as they shook hands, and to thank him more earnestly than he did those of us who simply — and sincerely — wished him well.

 

The incoming president is the man of the moment. He deserves good wishes and sincere prayers. But I've found myself thinking these last few days more about the man who has shouldered the burdens of office for the past eight years, George W. Bush.

 

He wasn't my favorite among Republicans in 2000. He has made mistakes as president, and has limitations as a leader. But he has exercised his just and rightful authority in a way — I believe — that deserves recognition and respect.

 

It will probably be a while before he gets much of either. In synagogue, right after the prayer for our country, there is a prayer for the state of Israel, asking the "rock and redeemer of the people Israel" to "spread over it the shelter of your peace." As we recited this on Saturday, I couldn't help but reflect that a distressingly small number of my fellow Jews seem to have given much thought at all to the fact that President Bush is one of the greatest friends the state of Israel — and, yes, the Jewish people — have had in quite a while. Bush stood with Israel when he had no political incentive to do so and received no political benefit from doing so. He was criticized by much of the world. He did it because he thought it the right thing to do.

 

He has been denounced for this, as Israel has been denounced for doing what it judged necessary to defend itself. The liberal sage Bill Moyers has been a harsh critic of Bush. On Jan. 9, on PBS, he also lambasted Israel for what he called its "state terrorism," its "waging war on an entire population" in Gaza. He traced this Israeli policy back to the Bible, where "God-soaked violence became genetically coded," apparently in both Arabs and Jews. I wouldn't presume to say what is and isn't "genetically coded" in Moyers's respectable Protestant genes. But I'm glad it was George W. Bush calling the shots over the last eight years, not someone well-thought of by Moyers.

 

Many of Bush's defenders have praised him for keeping the country safe since Sept. 11, 2001. He deserves that praise, and I'm perfectly happy to defend most of his surveillance, interrogation and counterterrorism policies against his critics.

 

But I don't think keeping us safe has been Bush's most impressive achievement. That was winning the war in Iraq, and in particular, his refusal to accept defeat when so many counseled him to do so in late 2006. His ordering the surge of troops to Iraq in January 2007 was an act of personal courage and of presidential leadership. The results have benefited both Iraq and the United States. And the outcome in Iraq is a remarkable gift to the incoming president, who now only has to sustain success, rather than trying to deal with the consequences in the region and around the world of a humiliating withdrawal and a devastating defeat.

The cost of the war in Iraq, and in Afghanistan, has been great. Last Wednesday afternoon, in the midst of all the other activities of the final week of an administration, Bush had 40 or so families of fallen soldiers to the White House. The staff had set aside up to two hours. Bush, a man who normally keeps to schedule, spent over four hours meeting in small groups with the family members of those who had fallen in battle.

 

This past weekend Barack Obama added to his itinerary a visit to Arlington National Cemetery. Obama knows that he, too, will be a war president. He knows the decisions he makes as commander in chief will be his most consequential. And so on Sunday morning, before going to church, he placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns and stood silently as taps was sounded. The somber tableau provided quite a contrast to all the hubbub and talk of the last few days. Obama's silent tribute captured a deeper truth, and — I dare say — a more fundamental hope, than could any speech.