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| The Hammer: In Baker's Blunder, A Chance For Bush |
| 2006-12-15 |
| By Charles Krauthammer As a result of the Iraq Study Group, President Bush has been given one last chance to alter course on Iraq. This did not, however, come about the way James Baker intended. It came about because the long-anticipated report turned out to be, as is widely agreed, a farce. From its wildly hyped, multiple magazine-cover rollout (Annie Leibovitz in Men's Vogue, no less) to its mishmash of 79 (no less) recommendations, the report has fallen so flat that the field is now clear for the president to recommend to a war-weary country something new and bold. The study group has not just been attacked by left and right, Democrat and Republican. It has invited ridicule. Seventy-nine recommendations. Interdependent, insists Baker. They should be taken as a whole. "I hope we don't treat this like a fruit salad and say, 'I like this but I don't like that.' " On the basis of what grand unifying vision? On the authority of what superior wisdom? A 10-person commission including such Middle East experts as Sandra Day O'Connor, Alan Simpson and Vernon Jordan? |
| Posted by:.com |
| #8 KBK, you meant raisin. Oh sorry, thats what the splodeydopes get. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2006-12-15 19:55 |
| #7 Baker's protege is, however, still the new SecDef. |
| Posted by: JSU 2006-12-15 18:57 |
| #6 No, he'd be a prune. |
| Posted by: KBK 2006-12-15 17:53 |
| #5 Baker is such an ass. If moral relativism were purple, he'd be a grape. Send him packing, Mr. President. |
| Posted by: mcsegeek1 2006-12-15 12:18 |
| #4 an earthquake that tomorrow swallows Israel whole and sinks it oh, ooh, ooooh, oooooooooooh! This waaas goood. |
| Posted by: Jim Baker 2006-12-15 06:15 |
| #3 But having told us that the price of leaving Iraq to chaos is unacceptably high, the commission never attempts to come up with a plan for succeeding. Its only new initiative is to go regional and involve neighboring Syria and Iran. What is it with this modern trend of criticism that is utterly devoid of functional alternatives? Has forensic debate gone the way of the dodo? History is replete with lessons that all prove the worthlessness negative criticism (as opposed to its constructive opposite). Modern liberals seem to work overtime on cornering this niche market, but this latest report shows that it is still a wide open territory. Krauthammer is spot on in translating Baker's report as a golden (and possibly last) opportunity for Bush to re-establish context for our involvement in Iraq. Okay. Imagine that there is peace between Israel and the Arabs. No, imagine an even better solution from the Arab point of view -- an earthquake that tomorrow swallows Israel whole and sinks it (like Santorini, 1650 B.C.) into the Mediterranean. Does anyone imagine that the Shiites stop killing Sunnis? That al-Qaeda stops killing Americans? That Iran and Syria work any less assiduously to destabilize post-Saddam Hussein Iraq? Saddest of all is how the above quote cannot simply be trotted out by Bush in its unvarnished state. I have steadfastly maintained that the one last lesson we must extract from our Iraqi campaign is the profound glee with which Muslims slaughter each other. If this prime indicator of what awaits us, subsequent to some glorious future Islamic unification, cannot be driven home as the raison d'etre for our Global War on Terrorism, then a serious lesson will have been lost. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-12-15 06:02 |
| #2 Victory needs no explanation. Provide our soldiers with the tools (ROE) and the leadership necessary to achieve success and all of this media and beltway rubbish will die. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-12-15 05:38 |
| #1 Bush has a free hand, as long as he pulls off a Reagan' fait accompli. President Reagan explained why he invaded Panama and Grenada, after operations began. Debbie Schlussel posts a great ISG critique. http://www.debbieschlussel.com/ |
| Posted by: Sneaze Shaiting3550 2006-12-15 04:00 |