war and self-reflection

this is a rather remarkable piece of self-reflection from bill keller, about his response to 9.11 and his regret at having endorsed the invasion of iraq. also it's good at reminding us what the climate was like immediately after. one rarely sees a columnist at this degree of self-criticism. i went straight-up bloodthirty; i didn't even quibble about justice; i demanded vengeance, which i thought was actually a more honest response. and i endorsed the invasion of afghanistan, though i was totally in detail in a series of columns opposed to the iraq operation. i'd say in retrospect afghanistan is a quagmire and is unlikely to have a good outcome, and it's been a decade. i'd still demand the death of osama and the members of his organization, but not a full-scale invasion, puppet-regime scenario. that's easier to see now, obviously.