Appetite for Destruction

A paean to just one of the men who caused this Memorial Day to be all the more meaningful to 3,455 sets of parents, collections of friends, and groups of loved ones:

What is striking about Bolton is the homicidal intent that shows through the patter.

Listening to that conversation was a grim experience that was not unlike being trapped with the Kevin Spacey serial killer character from "Seven."

It wasn't just that Bolton's arguments were bizarre and illogical to the point of insanity, such as his description of Humphrys and the millionaire philanthrophist George Soros as members of the 'extreme left'. Or his ludicrous assertion that the invasion of Iraq has laid the basis for a more stable and peaceful Middle East. It wasn't even his fanaticism, his arrogance and his utter contempt for the opinions of the non-American world. What is striking about Bolton is the savagery and homicidal intent that shows through the statesmanlike patter.

and later ...

[Richard] Perle, Bolton and co often pontificate on the unique moral evil of terrorism. But in their contempt for human life and their appetite for war they are not that different from Osama bin Laden. Unlike Osama, they will not be found in the Hindu Kush carrying a Kalashnikov. They are war trolls, endlessly manipulating the public from TV studios. In this sense they are more like the Roman senators who grew rich and fat while the legions went out to 'create a wasteland and call it peace', as Tacitus once put it.

Please read the rest.

/via Wolcott