Shelby Steele has written the definitive piece on the Iraq War.
In the wake of the baffling ISG report, and all the breathless hyperbole it spawned, this is a welcome dose of sanity and insight.
This is a very big moment in history we're living right now. We face difficult, but by no means insurmountable, challenges in Iraq and the rest of the Mideast. But it seems to me we're about to make a giant misstep.
We need to be very clear about where our interests lie, and we need to be very direct in the pursuit of those interests. I believe it is long past the time when we could afford Hamlet-like ambivalence about our role in the world. We're the world's superpower, and we need to start acting like it.
We cannot go about undertaking a mission like Iraq, and then when things get a little bit sticky, go running to our enemies and offer to betray one of our allies in exchange for them allowing us to surrender. If we hope to ward off complete chaos, we must not reward the menace of our enemies, and we must remain steadfast with our allies. It's simple, but not easy.
I believe the ISG has got it exactly backwards. This process must begin by taking back the streets. Then a political solution will be possible. We need a very big surge of American troops to get control of Baghdad and establish order. The only conversation we should be having with Iran and Syria should be a warning that if they don't stop aiding the insurgency in Iraq, very bad things are going to start happening in their respective countries.
It's reassuring to see the crackerjack Democrat squad taking the field.
Bill Kristol has a nice piece on the only way out of this mess. It's up to George W. Bush. While that may disquiet many, it doesn't me. You should never count out a man who has nothing to lose. Bush's detractors have never, and will never give him any credit for anything. But he's still the President of the United States. He still has a lot of power. Ronald Reagan once said, "You can get a lot done in this town if you don't care who gets the credit." Well, Bush shouldn't worry about that, and I don't think he does. For the next two years, Barney, and maybe Laura will be the only friends he'll have in Washington.
After the election debacle, the Rumsfeld resignation was an instructive bit of political theatre. First, it demonstrated that the President still has the power to control the agenda. It immediately changed the subject. And second, it demonstrated something important about this President. He has principle. He could have thrown Rumsfeld under the bus before the election, and probably could have held the Senate. But he did understand that that would have sent the wrong message to the troops--that he would sell out their leadership for politics.
The thing that confounds his critics is that Bush does the right thing. He's a good man.
In the wake of the baffling ISG report, and all the breathless hyperbole it spawned, this is a welcome dose of sanity and insight.
This is a very big moment in history we're living right now. We face difficult, but by no means insurmountable, challenges in Iraq and the rest of the Mideast. But it seems to me we're about to make a giant misstep.
We need to be very clear about where our interests lie, and we need to be very direct in the pursuit of those interests. I believe it is long past the time when we could afford Hamlet-like ambivalence about our role in the world. We're the world's superpower, and we need to start acting like it.
We cannot go about undertaking a mission like Iraq, and then when things get a little bit sticky, go running to our enemies and offer to betray one of our allies in exchange for them allowing us to surrender. If we hope to ward off complete chaos, we must not reward the menace of our enemies, and we must remain steadfast with our allies. It's simple, but not easy.
I believe the ISG has got it exactly backwards. This process must begin by taking back the streets. Then a political solution will be possible. We need a very big surge of American troops to get control of Baghdad and establish order. The only conversation we should be having with Iran and Syria should be a warning that if they don't stop aiding the insurgency in Iraq, very bad things are going to start happening in their respective countries.
It's reassuring to see the crackerjack Democrat squad taking the field.
Bill Kristol has a nice piece on the only way out of this mess. It's up to George W. Bush. While that may disquiet many, it doesn't me. You should never count out a man who has nothing to lose. Bush's detractors have never, and will never give him any credit for anything. But he's still the President of the United States. He still has a lot of power. Ronald Reagan once said, "You can get a lot done in this town if you don't care who gets the credit." Well, Bush shouldn't worry about that, and I don't think he does. For the next two years, Barney, and maybe Laura will be the only friends he'll have in Washington.
After the election debacle, the Rumsfeld resignation was an instructive bit of political theatre. First, it demonstrated that the President still has the power to control the agenda. It immediately changed the subject. And second, it demonstrated something important about this President. He has principle. He could have thrown Rumsfeld under the bus before the election, and probably could have held the Senate. But he did understand that that would have sent the wrong message to the troops--that he would sell out their leadership for politics.
The thing that confounds his critics is that Bush does the right thing. He's a good man.
posted by alwaysright at
7:17 AM
6 Comments
