Rosen on the Missing Iraq Exit Strategy
SFGate columnist Ruth Rosen updates her earlier piece applying the Powell Doctrine to the Iraq war, asking, in particular, about just how it is we’re supposed to get out of this mess: What’s the exit strategy? Good stuff on the Iraq/Vietnam comparison; here’s Rosen’s conclusion:
Like ghosts from the past, words and phrases from the Vietnam-era — quagmire, credibility gap, guerrilla war, winning the hearts and minds of civilians, requests for more troops — are creeping back into military and public parlance.
But this is not Vietnam. Finding an exit strategy in Iraq is far more complicated. There is no government that can negotiate a peace treaty with the United States. Until Iraq has a strong government, one that can provide basic services and protect its people, withdrawal of occupation forces is inconceivable.
Perhaps the military mess in Iraq can at least remind Americans how and why the Powell Doctrine, with all its reasonable restraints, prevented the United States from plunging — until now — into another unnecessary and perhaps unwinnable war.
Meanwhile, if the Bush administration — which never articulated clear post- war plans — has an exit strategy, what is it? The Iraqi people, our military forces and the American public have a right to know.
