The lure of military intervention

Governing is hard. Attacking tyrants is simple ... at first.

The American 18th Infantry during World War I.
(Image credit: Photo 12 / Alamy Stock Photo)

This is the editor's letter in the current issue of The Week magazine.

A century ago this month, President Woodrow Wilson persuaded a reluctant nation to jump into the carnage of World War I. A major, anti-militarist movement had challenged the wisdom of sending America's young men to die on European killing fields over a dispute that was not ours, but the idealistic Wilson decided an intervention was necessary to make the world "safe for democracy." Our nation has been having that same debate ever since, from World War II through Korea, Vietnam, Serbia, and Iraq. Less than 100 days into an "America First" presidency, the intervention dilemma is back. President Trump launched a barrage of 59 Tomahawk missiles last week after being moved by grotesque images of Syrian children dying in a chemical gas attack. Now his administration is warning North Korea's provocative Kim Jong Un that he, too, may suffer the new sheriff's wrath.

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William Falk

William Falk is editor-in-chief of The Week, and has held that role since the magazine's first issue in 2001. He has previously been a reporter, columnist, and editor at the Gannett Westchester Newspapers and at Newsday, where he was part of two reporting teams that won Pulitzer Prizes.