Iraq War: Where's Plan B?
_____________________________________________________________
By The SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Most of us know to have a backup plan for things that matter. We do such things as apply to more than one college, try to purchase health insurance and draw up pre-nuptial agreements, all in an effort to diminish negative impact on our lives should things not go as planned. When we're behaving recklessly, we don't create contingency plans and, sad to say, behaving with such stupidity and hubris has become the American way, especially when it comes to international policy. So we weren't surprised to hear that there is no backup plan for Iraq.
The Washington Post reported that the White House and Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a group of governors that there's only one plan for Iraq, and that "Plan B was to make Plan A work." To put it in terms that would appeal to the masses: We're in it to win it. Except that we're not winning, because there's nothing to "win" in Iraq. With the troop surge and all, we'd be lucky to get out of there some time in the next five years without igniting further war in the region.
Jordan's King Abdullah II is set to meet with Congress Wednesday. Among his talking points: The ticking clock on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, sectarian conflicts in Lebanon, and, oh yeah, Iraq, where people are fleeing in record numbers and landing in such countries as Jordan.
And we still don't know if President Bush opened the door for an attack on Iran when he signed the document authorizing the war on Iraq in 2002. So we don't have a Plan B, but is anyone looking for the emergency brakes on this train? |
