Steve Walt's new blog points out that Rick Warren is not just scary about gays, but about Ahmadinejad:
Appearing on Fox News on December 3, Warren openly endorsed
host Sean Hannity's declaration that "we need to take him [Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] out." As one might expect, Warren
invoked the Bible as his justification, saying that it says that "evil
cannot be negotiated with. It has to just be stopped….The Bible says
that God puts government on earth to punish evildoers."
I'm all
for inclusiveness, but this bit of foreign policy advice is more than a
little disturbing… I agree that some of
Ahmadinejad's public statements are deeply offensive, ignorant, and
stupid, but what exactly is the "evil" he has committed that warrants
our "taking him out?"
against the assassination of foreign leaders — including all-time
"evildoers" like Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Pol Pot, and the like — and good
reasons to keep that norm intact. Indeed, given recent American
behavior, this is one Pandora's Box we do not want to open
Important distinction there, between offensive statements and evil. And why hasn't anyone objected to this part of Warren's agenda? Walt, it's the Israel lobby…
