"Poster Ben, who classes himself more of a lurker than a commenter, listed the following metrics for how the US should evaluate our strategy in Iraq going forward. Let's have at these, and let's try to be nice. What follows below is Ben's list, elevated from comments. I may have edited things here or there, so Ben, let me know if you object:
Ben's List
These are some of the questions a real debate about Iraq policy would involve:
1. What would the effect of withdrawal be on Iraq in terms of:
a)the level of violence in Iraq
b)political developments in Iraq -- stability, healing or exacerbating the ethnic divide, more secular or theistic leadership, unified state (if that indeed should be our goal), human rights, emergence of liberal-democratic institutions
c)infrastructure reconstruction
d)the influence and involvement of border states -- esp. Turkey, Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia
e)what effect would the Murtha proposal of stationing troops in the area "just over the horizon" following withdrawal have on this?
2. How will staying in Iraq (postponing our withdrawal to some future date or benchmark) increase the likelihood of having positive outcomes to a,b,c and d above and are there any different steps we should we now take in Iraq to increase that likelihood?
3. What effect would withdrawal have on political developments in the border states? What would the effect of Murtha's proposal be? Where might troops be stationed "just over the horizon"?
4. What effect will continued long-term deployment of US troops with the present level of attrition have on the US military in terms of flexibility, readiness, resources, recruitment and morale? What will be the effect of withdrawal on these?
5. What effect does continued deployment or withdrawal have on the ability of the United States to achieve broader foreign policy objectives and project its power abroad?
If we had a Congress more concerned with policy than denouncing opponents as cowards, defeatists and non-patriots, it would be holding hearings and soliciting the best information available on these issues from experts and those most engaged in the field who are willing speak openly and honestly about what they know. At that point, informed judgments can be made. Right now, all of us (including me) need more information about these matters. The current "debate" does little but reinforce our existing policy biases?
Posted by Brian Keegan at November 21, 2005 11:13 AM "
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