A Sane Re-Start for the Iraq Debate

Published: August 8, 2007, 10:41 pm

Tags: foreign affairs, war, iraq, sunnis, muslims, henry kissinger, al qaeda, sectarian violence, surge, radical islam, withdrawal, bush administration, mideast

After all the wishful thinking and political posturing on all sides, a basis for serious discussion makes the tenuous case for staying in Iraq while scaling down our presence. The report urging strategic patience is by Anthony Cordesman, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank chaired by former Democratic Senator Sam Nunn, with a bipartisan board including Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski and William S. Cohen, a former Republican Senator who was Secretary of Defense under Bill Clinton. Some recent advances in Iraq, Cordesman writes, are the result of sheer luck, such as Sunni tribesmen turning against Al Qaeda insurgents. He quotes an unnamed U.S. official as describing our situation as “three dimensional chess in the dark while someone is shooting at you.” Rejecting the extremes of staying the course or immediate withdrawal, Cordesman makes a case for phasing down troop levels starting early next year. His analysis and

[ Full article ]

Blog link

Comments