There's a fantastic article by Noah Feldman in - of all places - The New Republic that relates to this theme (it's behind a sub wall or I'd link to it). The article's primarily about the fallout from the torture memos, but Feldman's conclusions apply to the broader hawkish stance on foreign policy.
The hawks believe - or portend to believe - that their positions on the use of force are realistic, as opposed to the fanciful moralistic perspective of the left. But Feldman argues it is the hawks' willingness to sacrifice principle for expediency that is flighty.
The liberal perspective on the world is not just a matter of morality (although he doesn't dismiss it as unimportant). It also involves the principle of reciprocity, which is a practical matter of self interest:
"The rule of law, understood from this perspective of reciprocal interest in keeping to the rules, is not only a good in itself. It is also a tool for promoting a habit of rule-following that serves the interests of stability...
"If enough people follow the rules, the custom of doing so may harden into a social norm. But if everyone is potentially what Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. called a 'bad man,' constantly weighing the risks of breaking the law against what he can gain from breaking it, the rule of law is unlikely to find much traction, and the costs of enforcing compliance will rise drastically. To make any legal system work, most people most of the time need to follow the law without giving it much thought. Moreover, the most salient actor in the system--the state, typically--will always be the most effective promoter of it. If it breaks the law, then it signals that anything goes. If it follows the law, the habit of obedience is encouraged."
Feldman also shoots down the notion that the left's propensity for criticism of US policies and history is about reflexive anti-Americanism:
"We Americans are alarmingly quick to forgive ourselves our prior bad acts when we have begun to turn the moral corner, but it must be remembered that our track record with respect to democracy in most of the Middle East is nothing short of disastrous. Having declared a policy of democratization, we begin far, far behind the line of scrimmage, penalized by the broadly shared and largely accurate perception that our policy has long favored the stability of dictatorship (and the steady oil flow that comes with it) over the uncertainties of democratic self-governance.
"Many in the Arab world long ago reached the conclusion that our rhetoric never matches our actual practice when it comes to them. That left hopeful Arab moderates, in Iraq and elsewhere, seeking to reassure the skeptics that this time we meant it. Our duty was to give them evidence to show that they were right."
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