Michael Massing

Michael Massing is a contributing editor for the Columbia Journalism Review and author of The Fix, a study of U.S. drug policy. In the following viewpoint, written before the 2003 war that deposed Saddam Hussein, he critically examines the argument that war would help Iraq’s people by liberating them from an oppressive regime. In evaluating the justness of a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, analysts must take into account not only anticipated benefits but also likely costs, he argues. Such costs include creating a new population of terrorists and enshrining the dangerous doctrine of preemptive war. Massing also questions whether the United States will expend the necessary resources after the war to properly rebuild Iraq. He concludes that nonviolent alternatives to war must be considered, even if they do...