TNR Gets It

The New Republic‘s Jonathan Chait makes the liberal case for war:

Deluded by the hope that they can have multilateralism and disarmament without the risk of war, liberals have concentrated their intellectual energies on the slim possibility that the United Nations will approve an airtight inspections system and that Saddam will submit to it. If that happens, they would not support a unilateral Bush war. And for that matter, neither would I. But the chance of that happening is small. We have eleven years of accumulated evidence suggesting that the United Nations will not approve loophole-free inspections and that even if it does, Saddam will defy it once more. Which is why it’s strange to find so many liberals who consider themselves antiwar conceding that, if all else fails, they would support military action against Iraq. “All else” has failed for more than a decade. And barring a profound character reversal by Saddam, “all else” will likely fail again in the coming months. Just how many times are we supposed to go down this road before we realize our last resort may be our only option?

How many times do I have to remind you that “liberal” isn’t synonymous with “stupid?”