"except that it's easy to criticize the President with 20/20 hindsight, it's a very popular sport these days, but it accomplishes absolutely nothing..."
If I were a 'Dem', and motivated only by an interest in narrow partisan gains, regardless of the potential harm that could be done to American national interests and the well-being of the nation... I'd be ECSTATIC at having Bush acting the way he currently is.
(For, the longer he persists in his mind-numbingly ill-advised and counter-productive 'tactics' in Iraq, the *greater* the damage that he does to the G.O.P.'s prospects in 2008. Another year of this and the Dems could probably run Mickey Mouse as a candidate and still win the Presidency and increase their margins in the Senate, the House, and State Houses all over.)
"No matter what, it's still far better that we engage the problem sooner than later...."
Total agreement on that point.
The question becomes though: What WORKS?
What set of tactics has the best prospects for achieving American strategic interests in the world?
(And there I'd argue that stepping back from the inter-Islamic religious war, and taking Uncle Sam's fingerprints off of the 'crime scene', then watching the Shiites and Sunnis have at it over the battleground of Iraq stands the very BEST CHANCE at neutering *both* sets of extremists... and ultimately creating the necessary conditions on the ground for the evolution of the entire region toward greater pluralism, Democracy, respect for moderation, and a long-delayed 'Islamic Reformation'.)
While... having the U.S. 'attack Iran'... and wheel back-and-forth between attacking Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq on a day-to-day basis stands about the *LEAST* possible chance of achieving American strategic interests and would most likely only STRENGTHEN extremists and fundamentalists on BOTH SIDES of the Islamic divide, while producing unrelenting hatred against everything American for generations to come, and actually *keeping* extremists on top in the region.
Hard to actually think of anything less likely to work.... |
