But That Is Minor....

Brian Leiter, who is a brilliant philosopher of law but on the crazy far-left end of the spectrum politically, links to a speech by Noam Chomsky:

"I haven't posted a link to one of Chomsky's items in awhile, but this one is particularly interesting (though he, incorrectly, describes the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan as a war of aggression, which it was not under international law--but that is minor)."

Chomsky's views about the lawful and moral use of force are not trivial when assessing whether his points on foreign policy are accurate. Perhaps Chomsky's understanding of our invasion of Afghanistan are not relevant to this particular speech, but his ideology colors his analysis on all foreign and domestic policy issues. Chomsky is a virulent foe of Israel's right to defend itself, partly because practically no use of force is ever acceptable. If someone believes that US' operations against the Taliban is a war of aggression, he is so removed from reality that I'm not sure we can take anything he says seriously. And Chomsky has a long, long list of transgressions.

I wonder if Leiter would be so forgiving if a right-wing professor so blantantly mischaracterized one of Leiter's preferred policies. I doubt it.