not_IOpropaganda rule
Totally Human Emdash UserKeep in mind that this is a guest opinion, which means it is not intended to reflect the official opinion of the Washington Post—in fact, it might be the opposite, but published anyway in order to provide a diversity of viewpoints. (Personally, I do not like everyone they have chosen to platform, but it is not unreasonable for them to want to err on the side of listening to what the other side has to say to avoid creating an echo chamber.)
I think opinion pieces are great for matters of taste.
War, on the other hand, is about life, death, money, and politics all rolled into one giant horror-show. Publishing op-ed on such a topic, on such a well-known paper, is basically elevating -whatever- to the same level of validity as actual journalism. It’s a really bad show on the Post’s part.
So newspapers should never publish any opinions that have any commentary on warfare?
Actually, no, I really think they shouldn’t. In such matters I think it’s crucial to stick to just the facts and journalistic integrity (such as it is). Elevating personal opinion to the same level as wartime photography, reporting, data, etc. has dangerous ramifications for all involved. I’m aware that newspapers and other news/media outlets have bias, one way or another, but I think it important to draw a line and minimize that bias to the greatest extent possible; saying no to op-eds on war is such a line.
WRT to opinions and discussion on war, we have other kinds of media and public forums to serve that.
Out of curiosity, did you actually read the article? Because it neither commented on any of the wars ongoing in 2014 nor proposed any new ones.
Also, newspapers generally have a designated opinion section, and this was in that section, so it was not treated the same as factual reporting in the manner you are concerned about.