Last updated on: 8/19/2009 10:18:00 AM PST
US - Iraq War Home Page > Source Biographies > >The Economist
The Economist Biography |
| Position: |
Pro to the question "Should the US Have Attacked Iraq?" |
| Reasoning: |
"Mr. Hussein still needs to be contained or disarmed. The question is how...
[H]e could be threatened with attack if he refuses to comply with Resolution 1441, according to deadlines set by the Security Council.
That last option is the one currently being pursued by the United States, through the UN. To The Economist it still looks the least bad of the limited range of available options; better, by far, than sticking to the failed and deadly policies of the past 12 years. Any military threat is risky and worrying. The United States has made this one even riskier by failing to make any progress in pressing Israel and Palestine to return to peace negotiations, and has made it sound more worrying by leaking vague but often contradictory plans for what arrangements might follow any war. Now, it would be wise to secure support for its threat through the UN, both to make the war less risky and to make the post-war peace more likely to be durable. But, in the end, the reality remains: if Mr. Hussein refuses to disarm, it would be right to go to war. Saddamned, perhaps, if you do; but Saddamned, also, if you don't.
"Why War Would Be Justified," The Economist, Feb. 20, 2003
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| Theoretical Expertise Ranking: |
Media and Academic Journals
Mainstream print, broadcast, radio, and internet media entities such as the New York Times, CNN, ABC News, National Public Radio, Slate.com, Seattlepi.com, etc., as well as influential academic journals such as the Journal of the American Medical Association, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Foreign Policy, etc. |
| Description: |
"Even when The Economist incorporated the Bankers' Gazette and Railway Monitor from 1845 to 1932, it also described itself as 'a political, literary and general newspaper'... [I]n addition to offering analysis and opinion, it tries in each issue to cover the main events- business and political- of the week. It goes to press on Thursdays and, printed simultaneously in six countries, is available in most of the world's main cities the following day or soon after...
Many hands write The Economist, but it speaks with a collective voice. Leaders are discussed, often disputed, each week in meetings that are open to all members of the editorial staff. Journalists often co-operate on articles. And some articles are heavily edited. The main reason for anonymity, however, is a belief that what is written is more important than who writes it. As Geoffrey Crowther, editor from 1938 to 1956, put it, anonymity keeps the editor 'not the master but the servant of something far greater than himself. You can call that ancestor-worship if you wish, but it gives to the paper an astonishing momentum of thought and principle.'"
"About Us," www.economist.com (accessed Aug. 18, 2009)
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| Mission: |
"Established in 1843 to campaign on one of the great political issues of the day, The Economist remains, in the second half of its second century, true to the principles of its founder. James Wilson, a hat maker from the small Scottish town of Hawick, believed in free trade, internationalism and minimum interference by government, especially in the affairs of the market. Though the protectionist Corn Laws which inspired Wilson to start The Economist were repealed in 1846, the newspaper has lived on, never abandoning its commitment to the classical 19th-century Liberal ideas of its founder."
"About Us," www.economist.com (accessed Aug. 18, 2009)
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| Other: |
Newspaper, "Even when The Economist incorporated the Banker's Gazette and Railway Monitor from 1845 to 1932, it also described itself as 'a political, literary and general newspaper'." "About Us," www.economist.com (accessed Aug. 18, 2009) |
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