n March 2003, the US was beginning its invasion of Iraq, and David Frum, conservative author and George W. Bush speechwriter, was penning an article about obscure right-wing magazines. This article would be titled “Unpatriotic Conservatives”, and would be a full-throated attack on right-wing opponents of the War on Terror.

To be sure, Frum had dredged up some unpalatable quotes from the anti-war right. But he was not just criticising its excesses. He was framing the whole act of being anti-war and on the right as shifty, small-minded and, well, unpatriotic.

For example, some of his opponents were “espousing defeatism” about the invasion of Afghanistan. The libertarian commentator Justin Raimondo, Frum scoffed, “acknowledged that though the Afghan war seemed to have succeeded, disaster lurked around the corner”. Absurd! Two decades later, almost 2500 American soldiers would have died and the Taliban would be back in power.

Yes, Frum accepted that “questions are perfectly reasonable” (thank you, David — you’re so kind). But by the end, he was declaring that war is “a great clarifier”:

It forces people to take sides. The paleoconservatives have chosen — and the rest of us must choose too.

Looking back, through the hundreds of thousands of bodies, which “side” would you have chosen?