Having raked Tom Friedman over the coals a few days ago, I'm feeling a bit apologetic towards the fourth estate. So, on a more positive note, a short post about my favorite foreign policy correspondent, William Pfaff.
I'm not sure exactly when I first became aware of Pfaff, but it was sometime in the 80s, when he was writing in The New Yorker. From the beginning I was struck by his cogent, well-reasoned analysis, and the rhythmic clarity of his prose. To my mind he has no equal among American foreign columnists, and while not a "groupie", searching out his every word, I've faithfully read his regular column in the International Herald Tribune since 9/11. A collection of his essays since 9/11 has recently appeared in book form, with the not too subtle title Fear, Anger, Failure: A Chronicle of the Bush Administration's War Against Terror From the Attacks of September 11, 2001, to Defeat in Baghdad.
The book was recently reviewed in the IHT, with the key graf being
The publishers' puffs boldly liken Pfaff to Walter Lippman and George Kennan. For once, they don't push their luck too far. His sense of history, his ability to put different strands together, is exemplary. His writing base, in France, gives him a perspective that spans the Atlantic with true, urgent fervor. His is a unique voice, demanding to be heard.
Unfortunately, the review also says that Pfaff's publishers have not made a great effort to showcase his writings. His columns have not been edited into a format more appropriate for book form, nor re-organized by subject matter to increase clarity. That being the case, I suggest just going to the IHT web site and searching on "Pfaff". You'll get a listing of his couple hundred columns over the past 4-5 years. Spend an afternoon (or two!) browsing through them. Time well spent.
Sadly, the IHT has an extremely limited search functionality, with no advanced features such as Boolean searches, and the results are erratic, with many articles duplicated and others not found. To make things a little easier, here are just a few of my favorites over the last year:
- Read this to get Pfaff's take on Bush using fear to gin up support for the Iraq War.
- Read this for Pfaff's warning to Bush (when things still seemed to be going well in Iraq) that it could become his Vietnam.
- Read this for Pfaff's comparison of Bush's anti-terrorism efforts with the failed strategy of Israel's efforts over the years.
I could cite dozens more, as each Pfaff essay is an intellectual gem, but instead just urge you to discover his work for yourself.