The real new seriousness
Posted by Joseph Knippenberg
9:33 PM / January 27, 2007
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Serious, indeed. Short and succinct. Dont see many takers on the horizon, however, except, so far, McCain and Lieberman.
In Iraq, American soldiers are finally beginning the hard job of establishing a measure of peace, security and order in critical sections of Baghdad -- the essential prerequisite for the lasting political solution everyone claims to want.
Given that Saddam Hussein was overthrown nearly four years ago, "finally" would seem a rather pitiful understatement. That is, if it is even true. However, to me it sounds an awful lot like the sunny optimism weve heard so often from the administration over the past four years.
What do they propose the United States do when, as a result of withdrawal, Iraq explodes and ethnic cleansing on a truly horrific scale begins? What do they propose our response should be when the entire region becomes a war zone, when al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations establish bases in Iraq from which to attack neighboring states as well as the United States? Even the Iraq Study Group acknowledged that these are likely consequences of precipitate withdrawal.
Perhaps Kagan, keyboard warrior par excellance that he is, should have thought about that before we invaded. Funny how the real world doesnt always match up to the think tank pontificating about "creative destruction." So far we have a lot of destruction and no so much creative.
But since Kagan backs the troop surge, I fully expect to see him down at the recruiting office today signing up.