Getting The Hell Out Of Iraq
Founded in 1921,
the Council on Foreign Relations is a non-profit and nonpartisan membership organization dedicated to improving the understanding of U.S. foreign policy and international affairs through the free exchange of ideas. Its 3,400 members include nearly all past and present Presidents, Secretaries of State, Defense and Treasury, other senior U.S. government officials, renowned scholars, and major leaders of business, media, human rights, and other non-governmental groups. Each year the Council sponsors several hundred meetings including televised debates and other media events, and publishes Foreign Affairs, the preeminent journal in the field, as well as dozens of other reports and books by noted experts.
James D. Fearon is Geballe Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences and Professor of Political Science at Stanford University and writes about
'Iraq's Civil War'.
The White House still avoids the label, but by any reasonable historical standard, the Iraqi civil war has begun. The record of past such wars suggests that Washington cannot stop this one -- and that Iraqis will be able to reach a power-sharing deal only after much more fighting, if then. The United States can help bring about a settlement eventually by balancing Iraqi factions from afar, but there is little it can do to avert bloodshed now.
Idea for post goes to article on Andrew Sullivan's 'The Daily Dish' where Andrew has said:
as it is to say that an atheist should not be president. "
Speaking of presidents, some time ago George Bush took the 'high road' and sent his troops into Iraq to wage his War on Terrorism. He probably should have dropped a few fifty-megazillionkazillion lb's of tnt on the damn country and wiped out the whole stinking lot of them all at once, but hindsight is always easy, right. Well, the ongoing number of body bags coming out of Iraq tells me there is something to the James Fearon article about getting the hell out and letting them have their civil war that they so want - the Western World can go in after and help clean up the mess that George Bush has created.
Now taking phone off the hook
