Articles of Interest: It all comes down to...Iraq: Some thoughts across the political spectrum

It can be (as it has been) argued that it makes little sense to ask for a prescribed withdrawal without a plan to secure Iraq - no matter how low the prospect for success may be. No doubt that at some point the U.S. may have to take drastic measures such as pulling out if the Iraqi government continues to struggle along with fragmentation and little power. An international body should be considered if anything on a humanitarian basis to save Iraq. Alas, to do so means that compromise and cooperation need to prevail in a region not exactly known for this.

Many of the proposals I have read miss the mark and lack a certain point of sophistication if not an outright inability to grasp how the Middle-East - both culturally and politically - functions. I fear too much of the arguing stems strictly from a domestic and American point of view and with little international perspective on how to deal with Iraq. I am not at all impressed with the Democrats. I hope their logic and ideas are not soley based on short term considerations - first among them to simply defeat Bush.

If so, this kind of politics serves no one.

Question: If the removal of the troops leads to a humanitarian disaster will those who demanded it face the error of their own ways? Or will they simply dismiss it by saying "we should not have been there in the first place"? How would this (leaving) invalidate invading in the first place? In other words, perhaps invading was and is seen as a mistake for the cost - both financially and with lives - it has incurred but it does not sound as though leaving is any better as an alternative option at this point.

www.reason.com/news/show/121398.html

www.thenation.com/doc/20070730/editors

article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZmI1M2EwZmU3OGQ2ZTFkZGVlYmE5ZWJiZGY0NmQzMzY=

The Brookings Institute publishes its Iraq Index on its site. Follow the link to it here:

www.brookings.edu/views/op-ed/ohanlon/20070713.htm