There’s been quite the flurry of analysis on the situation in Iraq, much of it pulling in different directions.
Jeremy Greenstock, former British special envoy to Iraq, declaims:
We have to help Iraq’s politicians put the country’s unity above their sectarian priorities.
as the way of turning a corner on the dodecagon that it is Iraq. That these politicians are creatures of the militias who put them into power will make this a difficult if not insuperable task.
In his “Situation Report on the Expedition to Iraq”, Fabius Maximus traces the entire endeavor through Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s seven stages of grieving.
Baseball Crank proposes a change in objectives or, more accurately, a re-focussing of objectives in Iraq as the way forward.
Will the Iraq Study Group produce a recommendation that:
allows the sober and wise to continue to support Iraq’s war for freedom and modernity.
or will it recommend that we offer Iran our tacit approval in their pursuit of nuclear weapons and Syria our tacit approval of their plan to re-occupy Lebanon (neither of which we would probably do much about anyway) in exchange for their assistance in stabilizing Iraq?
Will the Democrats who’ve reclaimed control of the Congress at least partially on the basis of their advocacy of phased redeployment in Iraq now be placed in a position in which they must unsell it?
