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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Carragher who wrote (25584)	7/31/2006 8:00:42 AM
From: Dale Baker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541851

Contain the actual security threat we face, build our political image and popularity in the world and undermine the causes the radicals feed on. We know that invasions and occupations don't work, and they undermine the rest of our case to be a world leader. Plus we don't have the troops, the money or the allies to prosecute a wider war. From Sebastian Mallaby in the Washington Post today: "Wars are more easily begun than won. It's not only Iraq that illustrates this; just look at Afghanistan, where the Taliban fights on. But the Bush administration, having apparently learned skepticism of military options since the Iraq imbroglio, veered back toward credulity when it came to Lebanon. It is hard to see how Israeli troops can succeed in uprooting Hezbollah. Assume that the war begins to go better for them, and that they fight village by village until they destroy the militia infrastructure. But what comes after that? The Israelis will leave, allowing the pro-Hezbollah Shiite population to reclaim their land -- and opening the way for Iran and Syria to resupply military cells with cash and weapons. This prospect logically leads some analysts to advocate action against Syria and Iran. But what action? There's no international support for serious sanctions. And not even the Bush administration is talking about military strikes on Damascus or Tehran. Just as in Iraq, the United States is supporting a war that is defensible in concept. Yes, it was Hezbollah that provoked this fight. Yes, destroying this militant state-within-a-state would be a boon not just for Israeli security but for Lebanese democracy. And yes, the diplomatic options for dealing with Hezbollah promise no quick progress. But Iraq surely teaches that wars must be more than defensible in concept. Wars are only defensible if they can be won."