Monday, March 12, 2007

Making Headway

I have been pounding the drum for a while about the likely aftermath of leaving Iraq. There are many bad possibilities and some worse ones. So who comes to support my position? The ever reliably left Los angeles Times.
Congress should not hinder Bush's ability to seek the best possible endgame to this very bad war. The president needs the leeway to threaten, or negotiate with, Sunnis and Shiites and Kurds, Syrians and Iranians and Turks. Congress can find many ways to express its view that U.S. involvement, certainly at this level, must not go on indefinitely, but it must not limit the president's ability to maneuver at this critical juncture.
Not a complete capitulation by the LA Times by any means, but a move in the right direction.

Standing on the edge of a precipice tends to have a sobering effect. Maybe you don't sober up all at once, but you at least take a step or two back and have a look around.

As an activist, I intend to keep hammering at the Vietnam analogies, because I think that is the most recent and clear historical analogy to our current and possible future situatiion.

H/T Q&O

Cross Posted at Power and Control and at Classical Values

3 comments:

  1. How long should we let Bush play?

    It's been four years, and we still have no resolution, no plan for resolution, and no end in sight. My question is, "How many years or lives must pass before we alow ourselves to call this war a failure?"

    ...or are you actually planning to never call it a failure??

    ReplyDelete
  2. dave koresh: u r an idjit.

    u write: "It's been four years, and we still have no resolution, no plan for resolution, and no end in sight."

    there is a plan for resolution.
    it is called winning.
    the end is in sight.
    open your eyes.

    afghanistan and iraq are two of the most successful wars of all time.
    lowest casualties.
    50 million liberated.
    the libs said we couldn't defeat the taliban or fight in an afghan winter. they were wrong.

    they said we couldn't defeat saddam - that we didn't have enough body bags.
    they were wrong.

    most of iraq is completely pacified.
    most iraqis live in peace and democracy and prosperity for the first time ever.

    we still have troops in the balkans, western europe, south korea, japan.

    we shouldn't drramk of leaving iraq and afghanistan for decades.

    not if we really want to win ww4.

    but maybe you don't care if we lose? after all, you want to call it a failure - when it is not.

    ReplyDelete
  3. david,

    Here is my plan:

    As long as the jihadis want Iraq I say we keep it from them.

    However, long it takes.

    ReplyDelete