Josh Muravchik

Josh Muravchik used to work for me as Executive Director of the Coalition for a Democratic Majority. Then, well into his 30s, with a wife and 3 children, he took a PhD at Georgetown.

Now, at AEI, he is mentor to me on all things concerning foreign policy.

He also likes the Washington Wizards. Me too.

What he says here makes a great deal of sense to me.

Ben





"Standing by Bush," by Joshua Muravchik

Article in the Washington Post, August 13, 2006

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Also, Josh was recently asked to participate in a symposium in Moment magazine, August 2006, to address the question: 'Has the Iraq War made it safer for Israel and the Jewish People?' Here is his response:

Joshua Muravchik- “Is it good for the Jews?” seems to me an odd question to ask about the war in Iraq, but it is in one sense easy to answer.

The war against terrorism is good for the Jews and for all Americans and for Europeans and even for Arabs and other Muslims who have often been victims of terrorism. It is, in short, good for everyone except the terrorists. It is a war to drag the entire human race to a more civilized plain of behavior, just as were the campaigns to stamp out slavery or human sacrifice.

The war in Iraq was launched as a front in the war against terrorism. Was it the right choice at the time? Analogous questions have been debated unceasingly about America’s strategic choices in World War II (attacking North Africa to reach Europe’s “soft underbelly”) and Britain’s in World War I (the central front versus Gallipoli and such). About Iraq, I have never been sure. I was not in a position to make the choice, and once the choice was made, I supported it because I supported the larger war of which it was part. I would do so again without a moment’s hesitation.

Will the war in Iraq prove to be a beneficial battle in the war against terror? That depends entirely on whether we win or lose there. The war has become a momentous showdown between jihadism and America. If the jihadists win, they will be strengthened and energized all over the Muslim world, and terrorism will mushroom. If, on the other hand, we win, jihadism will be widely repudiated and will lose the aura of invincibility it has built up through victory over the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and through many western retreats.

That will be good for everyone except the terrorists, the Jews included.

Joshua Muravchik, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, is writing a book profiling Middle Eastern democrats.

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