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November 27, 2006
Confused Americans for Truth - A Chance for America to Look Really Stupid
The New York Times has leaked some details of an upcoming bipartisan report on what to do about Iraq. Most of the action items alluded to in the Times-- setting a withdrawal date, not setting a withdrawal date, embedding more American troops in amongst Iraqi units-- are things we've heard before. The headline-grabbing tidbit is the recommendation that we involve Iran and Syria in negotiations.
Today in a telephone interview on the Roe Conn radio show, Illinois Senator Barack Obama re-established his position on this particular bandwagon, arguing that Iran and Syria have a vested interest in a stable Iraq, a point he has made before. Obama feels that we can force Iran and Syria to cooperate by threatening to withdraw, because they can't possibly want a nation in chaos on their borders.
I'm sure that Senator Obama would not want chaos in Mexico or Canada, but-- and I realize I'm going out on a limb here-- it is just possible that the average whack-job dictator has different sensibilities than the rest of us. In particular, it strikes me that Syria's solution to a nation in chaos on its southern border was to move in and take over.
It is certainly a disappointment that Iraq is sinking into an ethnic civil war, but Iran is not anywhere on the list when you're looking for somebody to teach the value of religious tolerance, so you have to wonder. It is very easy to say we need to negotiate, but in any negotiation you have to understand what you have to offer and what the other guy has to offer. We have the option of helping Iran with its nuclear program, but I'm finding it difficult to imagine what the Iranians are bringing to the table. If they are funding the insurgents, then Obama's theory of threatening a U.S. withdrawal is completely void, and if they are not funding the insurgents, then we're talking about an Iranian occupation of Iraq, much like Syria's occupation of Lebanon. Perhaps the Iranians will be better at keeping the peace, but only because, like Saddam Hussein, they're not afraid to punish innocents in order to scare the guilty.
I have a hard time seeing how that's any better than what we have now.
Respectfully submitted,
Ferdinand T. Cat
# At Mon 7:48 PM | Permalink | Trackback URI | Comments (0) | More Confused Americans for Truth | Tags: Barack Obama conservative Iran Iraq Iraq Study Group New York Times Syria
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