Peace or politics?

"It's quite a juxtaposition. 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.
. . . Democratic and Republican members of Congress are looking for a different kind of political solution: the solution to their problems in presidential primaries and elections almost two years off.
. . . The most popular resolutions simply oppose the troop increase without offering much useful guidance on what to do instead, other than perhaps go back to the Baker-Hamilton commission's vague plan for a gradual withdrawal.
. . . [Other] critics demand a cutoff of funds for the war and the start of a withdrawal within months. . . . [But] 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?
. . . Do they recommend that we . . . do nothing, regardless of the consequences?"

By Washington Post columnist Robert Kagan.

source
Kagan, Robert. (The Washington Post). January 28, 2007. Grand Delusion.

posted: tuesday, january 30, 2007, 4:29 PM ET

tags: iraq withdrawal surge