Soccer Dad

Krauthammer: Commit

A few weeks ago the winning entry of the Watcher's Council was Right Wing Nuthouse's Iraq: Quit or Commit. The argument (in a nutshell) presented was that the war in Iraq is not going well and therefore the Bush administration is obligated to do one of two things: commit to winning the war or get out.

Now Charles Krauthammer, confronting the same evidence looks at America's options in Iraq: A Civil War We Can Still Win (also here.)

Krauthammer breaks down America's reasons for leaving Iraq, job unfinished, into two.

1) Decide that the war isn't worth fighting and bring home the troops. Krauthammer rejects this as unserious. First of all it's based on a false premise. Iraq under Saddam was intolerable. Secondly, this isn't the time to make this argument; the proper time was in late 2002 and early 2003. Given the vitory an American withdrawal would constitute for Iran, Syria and Al Qaeda this is a result that should be avoided.

2) The more serious reason for a withdrawal according to Krauthammer, is that this is a war that cannot now be won. There is no point sacrificing more soldiers in a lost cause. Krauthammer, though, doesn't believe that the war is unwinnable. Unlike Right Wing Nut House, Krauthammer sees the responsibility for success or failure dependent on the actions of the Iraqis. While the U.S. is needed in Iraq, it is the actions (or inacitons) of the Iraqi government that will determine the success of the war. The United States must be there as support for the nascent Iraqi government, but the determining factor in whether or not the war will be successful, is the Iraqi govenrment that so far seems to hesitating to do the right thing.

More at Buzztracker.

Technorati tags: Iraq, War on Terror, Charles Krauthammer.