This from the Washington Post:
An Exit to Disaster By Michael Gerson -- Wednesday, June 27, 2007
"Victory in Iraq," one official of the Coalition Provisional Authority told me a couple of years ago, "was defined as decapitating the regime. No one defined victory as creating a sustainable country six months down the road."
Now Democrats running for president have thought deeply and produced their own Iraq policy: They want to cut force levels too early and transfer responsibility to Iraqis before they are ready, and they offer no plan to deal with the chaos that would result six months down the road. In essential outline, they have chosen to duplicate the early mistakes of an administration they hold in contempt.
***
In the article, Gerson paints grisly pictures and conjures up visions of the Khmer Rouge [I well remember the photos of the stacks of skulls].
No doubt, the right and prudent course was to stay the hell out of Iraq.
It's too late, though, to embark on the 'right and prudent course.'
So, where does that leave us? Do we stay in Iraq forever? Do we send our children there with targets on their backs to be gunned down in a futile attempt to save a failed policy that was, in actuality, no policy at all?
On that point, Gerson is silent.
While urging continued involvement in the region, he gives no blueprints for what victory might look like; whether victory is possible; how long will be 'long enough.'
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3 comments:
The main reason I started Left of Centrist was to find a cathartic release for my pent up frustration over this damned illegal and immoral war. We should have never gone over there in the first place. I was originally one of those who thought it was our responsibility to clean up our mess - it's what I teach my kids when they make a mess - but we can't. We've gone too far and created a civil war. Bring our young people home. I am as much of an activist as I can be. I make the trips to Washington for the rallies; I attend all the local peace rallies; I'm headed back to Crawford, TX next week for the last gathering at Camp Casey. I want this war over.
hey, Robert--
agreed, wholeheartedly. I, too, used to think we were obligated to remain till we'd cleaned up the mess we created.
then, I began to read the words of the rank-and-file Iraqis. NOT hotheads. NOT people who hanker to bomb themselves and/or others into oblivion. just people who want to be left alone to live their lives. and, they want us out.
so--who are we to argue with them?
as to creating a civil war if we leave---- well, we've already done a fine job on that score. if this isn't a civil war, what the hey do we define as one? all we'll do if we stay longer is make it worse.
halliburton, Cheney and Bush want to stay in order to get the rights to the oil. that's NOT a good enough reason to sacrifice our children.
I am another who had that view, but that goes back before it was apparent that Bush had created a full fledged civil war there. As responsible as it sounds to clean up the mess we made, the sad fact is that we do not have enough soldiers to even mitigate, let alone undo, Bush's mess. If I thought there was a reasonable possibility that we could, I would support it.
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