Better an unjust peace

Ross Douthat: "There is no perfect way to fight a war: Every approach to military action comes with distinctive dangers as well as with advantages. Which is why discretion in warmaking really is the better part of valor. Some conflicts are better approached as multilaterally as possible. Some are better fought under explicit American leadership, or by America alone. But many, in Iraq and now in Libya, are better left unfought entirely." Douthat must be re-reading his Cicero. For the famed Roman statesman and orator said, "An unjust peace is better than a just war." In a perfect world, that assessment is correct. But the world is not perfect. And war and peace will always hinge on the judgments of imperfect human beings sifting through ambiguity.