I used to have some respect for Bill Kristol. He’s clearly a partisan, but at least he seemed to follow some principles. Most importantly, he was able to admit some mistakes when asked tough questions. His Daily Show appearances were pretty good.

So, when I see him saying that the people of Iran would overthrow the government with the “right use of targeted military force.”

History is unkind to this view, and our experiences in Iraq should be a reminder about the unpredictability of these benevolent invasions. Totalitarian regimes so terribly corrupt and corrode civil institutions and the rule of law so much that without the regime, there’s only rot. In Iraq, the regime only maintained order with unbridled force and fear. Once that was removed, the country fell apart.

Even more frightening is that Kristol, like so many before the Iraq war, simply justifies his position with nothing specific to Iran or the Iranian people. We’re given the same “all people want to be free” nonsense that could apply to any country anywhere. He says nothing about Iran while advocating (once again) stepping in with force to make Iranians see how bad their regime is.

How ridiculous is that? Why does this type of punditry get media coverage?

I made the point in 2003 that neither the President or supporters like Kristol made an affirmative case for war. Playing on fears and uncertainty isn’t making an affirmative case. Kristol and his ilk should be talking about what war will do. For example, is there an active resistance movement? What populations will be disenfranchised by the toppling of the regime (and are divisions ethnic)? What about Iranian culture or society would lead them to focus on the regime rather than outside aggressors, as the U.S. would undoubtedly be painted? What’s the postwar plan?

Or maybe I should ask, do you have a postwar plan?

If you’re going to advocate using military force, putting our soldiers in harms way and putting some number of innocent civilians in harms way, you should be required to answer these sorts of questions. War isn’t the same as advocating tax cuts or abortion policy. Lazy punditry shouldn’t be acceptable here.

(found the Think Progress piece via Atrios)