Interview with VDH

The interview starts off with the standard stuff, but then gets more detailed and interesting.

Update from Stephen:

TALM: You have observed that both man and the history he shapes are tragic. Given this perspective, what is your worst case scenario for the war on terror?

VDH: A return to Carterism — to overtly withdraw from Iraq; to bring back this idea that we're in no position to judge the terrible behavior of Arab governments, or as if we cannot project our own personal values of freedom and democracy on somebody like a Mubarak, while continuing to send him $2 billion a year; to cease pressuring the Palestinians and Saudis to open their societies. If we were to do something like all that and cease our much caricatured but successful efforts, we would embolden tyrants and discredit liberal reformers.

Speaking of the reformers, we also need to be mature enough to understand that new democratic reformers may say anti-American things, but it’s what they do that matters — namely, whether or not they cease their heretofore covert efforts to appease or promote terrorists or threaten to destabilize one of the world's key regions by transferring massive influxes of petrodollars into frightful weapons under the control of autocrats.