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This Is Realism?
Iran and Syria Won't Be Riding to Our Rescue

By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, December 1, 2006; Page A29

Now that the "realists" have ridden into town gleefully consigning the Bush doctrine to the ash heap of history, everyone has discovered the notion of interests, as if it were some new idea thought up by James Baker and the Iraq Study Group.

What do people think we've been doing for the past five years? True, the president's rhetoric has a tendency to go soaringly Wilsonian, e.g. the banishing-tyranny stuff in his second inaugural address. But our policies of democratization in Iraq and Afghanistan and Lebanon have been deeply rooted in the most concrete of American interests.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/30/AR2006113001159.html

Let's have a clean fight gentlemen. Now, back to your corners and come out swinging at the bell.

Ding! Ding!

"Why, of course people don't want war...Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don't want war, neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor, for that matter, in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a parliament or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."

-Hermann Goering