The Liberal Defence of Murder - Hardcover

"A welcome critical engagement, meaningful intellectualism and unbashed factual analysis." Ariane Koek, Resurgence "Seymour's analysis has truly impressive breadth and depth." Maria Ryan, Journal of American Studies "Among those who share responsibility for the carnage and chaos in the Gulf are the useful idiots who gave the war intellectual cover and attempted to lend it a liberal imprimatur. The more belligerent they sounded the more bankrupt they became; the more strident their voice the more craven their position. As the war they have supported degrades into a murderous mess, Richard Seymour expertly traces their descent from humanitarian intervention to blatant islamophobia." - Gary Younge, columnist, Nation and Guardian

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, a number of prominent thinkers on the Left found themselves increasingly aligned with their ideological opposites. Over the last decade, many of these thinkers have become close to Washington; forceful supporters of the War on Terror, they help frame arguments for policymakers and provide the moral and intellectual justification for Western military intervention across the globe. From Kanan Makiya, one of the chief architects of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq, to Bernard Henri-Levy's advocacy of "humanitarian" intervention, "The Liberal Defense of Murder" traces the journey of these figures from left to right and explores their critical role in the creation of the new American empire. With wide-ranging testimony from many key figures on the left, this is a crucial account of the emergence of the "pro-war left," and its shaping of our post-9/11 world.