<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 5.50.4611.1300" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV>The closing lines of Alterman's latest:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>"To achieve the ends they have always sought, these conservatives demean considered analyses of our predicament with the epithet 'appeasement.' Andrew Sullivan--the author of a book on friendship--has already accused his friend Robert Wright of exactly this crime in response to the latter's thoughtful musings about some of the difficulties of retaliation. As if possessed by the spirit of an A. Mitchell Palmer or J. Edgar Hoover, the famed 'gaycatholictory' has taken to listing the names of those he considers to be appeasers. And if that's not enough, Sullivan also warned that 'the great red zone that voted for Bush is clearly ready for war. The decadent left in its enclaves on the coasts is not dead--and may well mount a fifth column.' Yes, you read that right. </DIV> <DIV> <P>"The grave risk in allowing these self-serving arguments to hijack the public discourse is that we will embark on a self-destructive cycle of retribution that does little more than indulge our wholly understandable desire for vengeance as it simultaneously exacerbates the problem we attempt to address. No, I don't have a better idea right now, but what's the rush? We are a great nation. We can afford to take our time."</P> <P><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Tis a sad day when Alterman makes more sense than Hitchens who, for some reason or another (the loss of his friend Barbara Olson?), has fallen in line with Marty Peretz and Andrew Sullivan. He hasn't come out for bombing -- yet. The Nation waits .</FONT> . .</FONT></P></DIV> <DIV><A href="http://thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20011008&s=alterman">http://thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20011008&s=alterman</A></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV>DP</DIV></BODY></HTML>