Yes, the slow-strangulation of Iran is making America rather short of breath
Thomas Barnett
ARTICLE: "Who's isolating whom? Despite their fear of Iran and of Islamist movements at home, most Arab regimes seem loath to co-operate wholeheartedly with America in the region," The Economist, 25 February 2006, p. 51.
ARTICLE: "Everyday Iranians Nervous About Push For Atomic Power," by Karl Vick, Washington Post, 8 March 2006, p. A15.
It's so sad, really. We've got the Big Bang rolling throughout the region, and we've got an Iranian public that's favorably disposed to America and ever more unhappy with their leadership, and what do we do with this amazing mix?
We settle into a long, slow isolation strategy with Iran, as if to purposefully piss away all the momentum paid for by those 2,000 soldiers to date. We get back into the same myopic obsession with mechanisms that twisted any logic (and there was a surfeit of defensible reasons) for the Saddam takedown into a ludicrous rationale for unfound WMD ("Bulletin: Ted Bundy arrested today on strong evidence of killing dozens of women, but no weapon found! Authorities admit entire arrest was bad idea!").
We have history on our side, blood to be accounted for, and this is the best we come up with?
Seriously, in the end, I truly believe Rice will be as big of a wasted opportunity as Powell in the role of SECSTATE. Great reps. Uplifting stories of personal achievement (and job-holding), but not a single G.D. legacy worth mentioning.
Oh, I almost forgot! Strategic alliance with India over the sharing of … what?
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