Keith Burgess Jackson has an excellent link to a review of Micheal Walzer’s new book.

(Excursus #1: I thank him for the link, but am distressed at the gratuitous ad hominem attack; such unsupported insults have, of late, become endemic over at Analphilospher. KBJ’s early blog, while still opinionated and partisan, was much more civil in tone. Methinks the economic marketplace of the blogosphere has led the good professor down the primrose path. Blog readers seem to reward intemperate ranting. While I usually hesitate to attribute unspoken motivations to others, KBJ’s early writings show a much more thoughtful individual; my attribution of motives here is actually to give him the benefit of the doubt; he has made a decision to ratchet up the rhetoric to bring in the readers. It appears to work, since he has just been blogrolled by the great Glenn Reynolds.)

At any rate, I was very interested to read the review of Walzer’s book.

I have a copy of Walzer’s Just and Unjust Wars. The Minister of Propaganda gave it to me as a gift when we were wee undergraduates.

(Excursus #2: Okay, okay, we admit it: the Villains are bibliophiliac geeks. The Maximum Leader has bookshelves of books offered as tribute by his Minister of Agriculture and the humble mallholder has bookshelves of books granted through the Maximum Leader’s largesse.)

I enjoyed Walzer’s work in college and actually pulled it off the shelf during the run-up to Gulf War II. Walzer is probably the single greatest influence over my understanding of the just war concept. I actually quoted it to the Minister of Propaganda over the phone as we debated the morality of the invasion of Iraq. Based on Walzer’s book, I argued that the war was justified. I took particular pleasure in using a book that Rob gave me to challenge Rob’s contention that pre-emptive wars were inherently immoral.

(Excursus #3: Another cool Rob/Walzer moment was when I took the book of the shelf and a letter fell out of the jacket. It was the original letter that Rob wrote to me back in 1991. It was a wonderful bit of nostalgia for the idealistic kids we once were.)

But Walzer evidently opposed this war. I need to read the book and see how he has modified his original positions. I really think that his criteria for determining the morality of a particular war DO give the green light to GW II. I want to see how he has redefined/reinterpreted the argument.

Amazon Wish List To the Rescue!