Iraq: What can be salvaged from U.S. engagement?

In a Washington Post piece by Lynne Duke, a comment is made that, despite obvious blunders in Iraq, most leaders hope that "the ship doesn't have to go down." Zbigniew Brzezinski had opposed Bush's doctrine of preemption and assessed that the war policy was one that "was propelled forward by mendacity." After having been asked this week if he felt vindicated by what we now know was a major mistake in Iraq, he replied,

"If vindication was accompanied by a sense that America is likely to undo the damage they have done and can dis-embarrass itself of the tragic involvement, then my answer would be yes."

Lynne Duke reminds us, in a way thatconcerns me deeply, that Mr. Brzezinski, who was former national security adviser under President Jimmy Carter, "scarcely believes such course corrections will happen."


For those who aren't sure where the McCain Doctine will lead America, Mr. Brzezinski makes it very clear. He's an extremely wise man. Listen to him:

Despite the broad sea change in opinion among the political and policy class, Brzezinski's sense of vindication has its limits, he says, because "I have the feeling that the president's team is hellbent on digging itself in more deeply and if it does not succeed in Iraq some of its wilder policymakers seem to be eager to enlarge the scope of the war to Iran."

"I'm saddened," he said, "because I think it's doing terrible harm to America. But more than being sad, which is an emotion, I'm worried."

Ms. Duke points out that the debate now centers on what can be salvaged from the U.S. engagement in Iraq. There are some people quoted in Ms. Duke's article who seem disgusted by the pseudo-moral audacity of politicians in D.C. who have never admitted how wrong they have been all along, yet now cozy up to some of those, like Mr. Brzezinski, whose intuition had been right from the beginning and say things like 'Oh, I was with you all along.' If you ask me, these are the kinds of leaders that we need to kick out of their elected positions because, given this critical time in our nation's history, they're as dishonest and as dangerous as the day is long.

Remember, our goal, at the end of the day, is peace and stability in the region with America seen as a good faith partner, because only then will our national security interests be well served.