To: stockman_scott who wrote (113356 ) 8/29/2003 4:05:23 PM From: Bilow Read Replies (1) | Respond to Hi stockman_scott; That's what worries me about Clark. Your extensive quotes have only one passage that suggests what he would do from here on out, and it is not comforting. Let me place emphasis on the wrong-headed and fantasy thinking portions:Well, I think we've got to try to do as much as we can to make that a success. We can debate whether we should have been there or not, but the fact is, we are there . And if we make it a success , there will be some benefits that come from it. To make it a success, the Iraqi people have to want us there. We have to legitimate our presence . International organizations in there supporting us . I believe we need a greater role from the United Nations, at least in terms of overall legitimacy , and we need to get the Iraqi political process moving at the greatest possible speed. now that we are there , we have to do it better." The UN is to be given a "role" and international organizations are there to support "us".these are the words of someone who is going to dig the hole deeper. Well, I think that we've gotten ourselves into a situation from which there is no easy extraction. We can debate whether we should have gone in there or not, but the fact is that it is beyond our power to bring the situation to a successful close. It is clear now that the Iraqi people do not want us there. To get out of this, we are going to have to get the UN, or a coalition of Arab countries, to take the burden off of our hands. Our presence was illegitimate and there is no way for us to legitimize it after the fact. What we did was wrong, and our continuing to stay in the area is not improving the situation, so that is wrong too. It's a tough situation, but it is clear to me that sending more troops is not the answer.
