Steyn’s Orwellian lie about the Kosovo war

In the latest of his free-form and intellectually dishonest columns, Mark Steyn makes it appear that the U.S.-NATO war on Serbia over Kosovo in 1999 was supported only by the left:

Remember Kosovo? Me neither. But it was big at the time, launched by Bill Clinton in the wake of his Monica difficulties: Make war, not love, as the boomers advise. So Clinton did—and without any pesky U.N. resolutions, or even the pretense of seeking them.

Instead, he and Tony Blair and even Jacques Chirac just cried “Bombs away!” and got on with it. And the left didn’t mind at all—because, for a modern western nation, war is only legitimate if you have no conceivable national interest in whatever war you’re waging.

The reality, of course, is that the congressional Republican leadership, most Republicans, and all neoconservatives, also didn’t mind at all. Not only did they not mind Clinton’s war on Serbia, they actively supported it, far more than the left did. Among others, George W. Bush supported Clinton’s policy, and as president he followed through on it, making Kosovo into an independent Muslim nation in Europe. Steyn doesn’t mention that fact, even as he complains about the favors we have done for the Kosovar Muslims which they repay by killing our servicemen in Germany.

But you’ve got to hand it to Steyn; he knows his audience. His Orwellian whitewashing of conservative involvement in disastrous recent U.S. policies only adds to the conservative adoration of him. Here is the way Lucianne Goldberg posted his article today:

Why Are We Still In Germany?
Mark Steyn is back for which we thank a merciful God.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at March 05, 2011 11:43 AM | Send