Most shrewd military observers, writes William Arkin, now believe we cannot win in Iraq. Unfortunately, as David Brooks writes, a Democrat who actually tried to withdraw from Iraq would immediately sink his or her Presidency into a partisan mosh pit from which it might never emerged. But if that President decides to delay withdrawal, the left flank of the party will go ballistic.
While 2009 will be a welcome relief from the current presidency, lets not forget just how doomed we are.
Via Kevin Drum
What some would call a partisan mosh pit I call a natural state of affairs.
ReplyDeleteI wish a Democratic candidate would come out in support of the Iraq Commission's recommendations. In particularly, I like the idea of withdrawing a U.S. brigade for each Iraqi Army brigade or equivalent police unit that we declare to be trained and ready to go.
ReplyDeleteI'm very very tired of the Bush Administration telling us how many benchmarks have been met in this area, yet somehow these Iraqis are still incompetent to take over the policing of their own country. Either they are trained and loyal to the idea of Iraq, or they are untrained and/or still hung up on religious or tribal ties. I measure progress by the number of American soldiers who can come home because Iraq can function without them. So far, we seem to have gone backwards.