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Gaffney: The new groupthink
We are, as the saying goes, between Iraq and a hard place. Unfortunately, events this week seem likely to drive us inexorably closer to the hard place one that is going to be a lot worse than what we have seen in Iraq so far. These events include a two-day trip to the woodshed in Amman, Jordan with President Bush for Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. They will be considering ways in which al-Maliki can prevent the collapse of his government and his countrys slide into full-scale civil war. Presumably, the two leaders will be factoring in the results of Vice President Cheneys three-hour visit to Riyadh to appeal to the Saudi king, Abdullah, for help with Iraq. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani will be meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in Tehran to discuss bilateral relations. Presumably, among the topics for discussion will be the success Irans regime is having in its efforts to destroy a Free Iraq. Finally, there will be two days of deliberations by the Iraq Study Group, co-chaired by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Rep. Lee Hamilton. This panel, which was commissioned by Congress to examine alternatives to the present approach in Iraq, is reportedly considering a proposed report drafted largely at Mr. Bakers direction. What all these events have in common is the notion that the solution to Iraq lies in a regional approach. The leitmotif is that U.S. unilateralism is dead, long live multilateralism. A chastened America will be brought to its senses by the collective wisdom of Jim Baker, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Kings Abdullah of Jordan and Saudi Arabia. But what, exactly, does this regional approach portend? Posted by: .com 2006-11-29 |
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