To the Editor:
Here are three quotations for your readers:
Columbia Daily Spectator, Nov. 7, 2002, Eric Foner: "This doctrine of what they [i.e., the Bush administration leaders] call preemption or preventive war is a complete repudiation of the whole notion of international law, of the international rule of law. It takes us back to the notion of the rule of the jungle. It's a throwback to the days before the United Nations, before notions of international standards of conduct. This is exactly the same argument that the Japanese used in attacking Pearl Harbor. This is exactly the justification they gave for the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was a preemptive strike against the United States because the United States was becoming more and more threatening to Japan."
New York Post, Nov. 12, 2002, my column, titled "Profs Who Hate America":"Eric Foner, professor of 19-century American history at Columbia University, states that a preemptive war against Iraq 'takes us back to the notion of the rule of the jungle' and deems this 'exactly the same argument' the Japanese used to justify the attack on Pearl Harbor."
The Nation, June 2, 2003, Eric Foner's editorial, "Dare Call It Treason": "Daniel Pipes said in his syndicated newspaper column that I 'hate America' because I noted that Japan invoked the idea of pre-emptive war to justify its attack on Pearl Harbor."
No, Professor Foner, that is not what I wrote. You hate America not because of your comments on Japanese actions but because you accuse the U.S. government of acting according to "the rule of the jungle" and because you see it as comparable to the Hideki Tojo dictatorship. Your misquoting me on this simple matter points out the incompetence (or duplicity) of your research. It is one more mark of shame you bring to Columbia University.
Daniel Pipes
Philadelphia
