June 2, 2004
DIDN'T HE RAISE THE WHITE FLAG LAST WEEK?:
Hopeful Omens in Iraq (Fareed Zakaria, June 2, 2004, Newsweek)
In his prime-time speech last week, George W. Bush hit all his familiar themes -- we must show resolve, stay the course, finish the job, etc. But it masked a very different reality. Over the past three weeks the Bush administration has reversed itself on nearly every major aspect of its Iraq policy. Thank goodness. It's about time. These shifts may be too late to have a major effect, but they will help. The administration has finally begun to adhere to Rule No. 1 when you're in a hole: Stop digging. But it needs to go further and move decisively in a new direction. Consider the magnitude of recent policy reversals:• The administration had stubbornly insisted that no more troops were needed in Iraq. But today, there are 20,000 additional soldiers in the country.
• From the start it refused to give the United Nations any political role in Iraq. Now the United Nations is a partner, both in the June 30 transition and in preparing for elections. U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi was the "quarterback," Bush said yesterday.
• Radical "de-Baathification," the pet project of the Pentagon and Ahmed Chalabi, has been overturned. The army that was disbanded is being slowly recreated.
• Heavy-handed military tactics have given way to a more careful political-military strategy in Fallujah, Karbala and Najaf that emphasizes a role for local leaders.
Imagine what Iraq might have looked like if these policies had been put in place 14 months ago.
It's easy to imagine: the Administration would be taking shots for leaving Ba'athists in place, letting militias patrol the cities, having too many troops there, and not paying attention to the UN and the Left, far Right, Europeans, Arabs and neocons who thought it would be easier (like Mr. Zakaria) would be saying the war had failed. Posted by Orrin Judd at June 2, 2004 1:57 PM
Now that we've won, the left has to show why they're entitled to all the credit. In a few years, the Iraqi war will be held up by the left as a great example of bipartisan triumph and compared favorably to the right's refusal to go along with whatever appeasement the left will then be pushing.
Posted by: David Cohen at June 2, 2004 2:13 PMPeople like Zakaria and Thomas Friedman will always write something 'contrarian' because the feeling to be smart or new is much more important than any feeling to be accurate.
Posted by: jim hamlen at June 2, 2004 3:11 PM"It's all The Republicans' Fault,
The Republicans Are To Blame;
It's all The Republicans' Fault,
The Republicans Are To Blame;
It's all The Republicans' Fault,
The Republicans Are To Blame;
It's all The Republicans' Fault,
The Republicans Are To Blame;
It's all The Republicans' Fault,
The Republicans Are To Blame;
It's all The Republicans' Fault,
The Republicans Are To Blame;
It's all The Republicans' Fault,
The Republicans Are To Blame..."
-- The Earth Day Activists,
South Park episode
"Terrence & Philip; Behind the Blow"
The need for de-Baathification was much greater 14 months ago that now, because now Iraqis know it is time to sh*t or get off the pot. And any inkling that one could improve any outcome by getting the UN involved sooner rather than later is pure buffoonery. Zakaria is smarter than this. Lots of smart people seem to be having a bad year/decade/century/millenium. Fortunately, that Keegan piece today proves he is not one of them.
Posted by: Jeff Brokaw at June 2, 2004 4:56 PMThe UN was involved 14 months ago. Then a bomb blew up a few of their people, and they packed up and went home.
Posted by: Robert Duquette at June 3, 2004 12:53 AM