Johann Hari Replies

In: Dissent: a quarterly of politics and culture, Volume 54, Issue 4, p. 81-82

Abstract

Nick Cohen's response is perplexing, characterized as it is by daft hyperbole (I'm Maoist now?), denial of his own statements, and arguments that he knows I agree with and have done more to advance than he. It's disappointing he doesn't try to defend his positions or engage with any of my arguments, despite the fact I tried hard to fairly summarize his case. For example, he simply repeats his claim that the Iraq War marked a radical break with Henry Kissinger's influence on U.S. foreign policy—and, to sustain this, he ignores the lengthy part of my review pointing out that Kissinger is now, according to Bob Woodward, "the most senior foreign policy adviser to [Bush] outside the administration." This information doesn't fit into his Manichean polemics so, rather than defend his case, he simply pretends it isn't so.