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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sam who wrote (224730)	3/20/2007 3:37:36 PM
From: cnyndwllr	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Sam, thanks for posting that article. It's interesting because it's not about the "whys" of the Iraq debacle but rather about the main issue, protecting American interests and how best to do that. Evidently many of the experts he spoke with who initially supported the Iraqi invasion have, at least, learned from our mistakes and can see a clearer way forward. Did any of our right wing, war hawk friends read it? Maybe Rough Cut, Nadine or Carranza, but the most of the others would undoubtedly find it too "academic" and, of course, too long to hold their interest. Ed

To: Sam who wrote (224730)	3/20/2007 4:30:08 PM
From: Noel de Leon	Respond to of 281500

Thanks for the article. A good read.

To: Sam who wrote (224730)	3/20/2007 9:38:30 PM
From: carranza2	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Good article, but I certainly would not declare victory over AQ so long as OBL and Zawahiri are alive. And while AQ as an operational entity may have been crippled, it doesn't take much to cause a tremendous amount of dislocation. All it takes to create a substantial multi-billion shock to Western economies is a car bomb loaded with radioactive material from a few old x-ray machines going off in Wall St. And while AQ might not be responsible for it, such an event would be inspired by what it stands for. It would put us back into the same situation we were on 9/12 and might provoke the kind of response that elevated OBL into an icon. The domestic response would be, thanks to the divisions caused by Iraq, nowhere as unified as it was after 9/11. The atomization of AQ is a very dangerous thing. Fallows in effect suggesting that we declare "mission accomplished" is rich irony. But like Bush's mission, I think it is premature to declare victory on the basis of a situation that could change drastically in an instant.