Winter 2008

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Academia (kind of) Goes to War

by Alan Wolfe

Parallels between U.S. involvement in Vietnam and Iraq do exist. But on one important point, the experiences of Vietnam and Iraq could not be more different. In Vietnam, the U.S. government acted on the expertise of well-placed academics. In Iraq, the administration distrusted all experts. Yet whether the problem was too much...

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While I don't know whether Pollack & O'Hanlon qualify as scholars, they certainly possess academic credentials to be considered as such. Therefore, at least some lip service ought to be paid to objectivity, else why work for a think tank? Why not work for some pressure/lobbying group? Greenwald's criticism is that these two men were using their academic credentials to make what was a political statement, by passing it off as somehow neutral. More generally, I think there is a lot of disgust with Poli-Sci Phds (tenured or not) who dreamed up this war. The list of of those intimately involved with advocating or planning is long: Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Ken "cakewalk" Adelman, Richard Perle, Pollack, O'Hanlon, Rice, Bill Kristol, Robert & Frederick Kagan, Elliot Cohen, Paula Dobriansky.... all of these people are very "Serious." In any case, I think there is a legitimate criticism when two individuals who have been so catastrophically wrong, are accorded a certain measure credibility.

Posted by Eric | February 26, 2008 2:11:16 PM EST

Academics creating policy? Please, haven't we had enough of their muddled utopianism, whether from the left or right. People who spend their lives talking to each other either in Washinton or at academic conferences have almost nothing useful to contribute. Let's rely on our diplomats, our business people, our NGOs and our military....people who actually experience the world rather than the buffet table.

Posted by Lure D. Loup | March 2, 2008 10:17:11 PM EST

Let's ignore the liberal, and so very anti-American, bias of academia, and assume it doesn't taint any advice. I think this is a deal-breaker up front, but Wolfe doesn't think it is so, so let's ignore it. Just as important, as academics slipped off into into the secular socialist swamps, they left the rest of America, and much of the American political class, behind. Having embraced an alien culture, that culture no longer wants the advice of academics. How could they be surprised?

Posted by pashley | April 24, 2008 8:33:02 PM EDT

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