Friday, January 12, 2007

The fatal flaw

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Our must-read of the day is Zbigniew Brzezinski's "Five Flaws in the President's Plan" at WaPo. These lines stand out:

-- "Its language was less Islamophobic than has been customary with President Bush's rhetoric since Sept. 11, though the president still could not resist the temptation to engage in a demagogic oversimplification of the challenge the United States faces in Iraq..."

-- "The commitment of 21,500 more troops is a political gimmick of limited tactical significance and of no strategic benefit. It is insufficient to win the war militarily."

-- "The speech did not explore even the possibility of developing a framework for an eventual political solution."

-- "The speech reflects a profound misunderstanding of our era. America is acting like a colonial power in Iraq. But the age of colonialism is over. Waging a colonial war in the post-colonial age is self-defeating. That is the fatal flaw of Bush's policy."

Indeed it is. Read the whole piece.

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1 Comments:

  • Not a speech about closing a chapter in the Middle East. Between the lines, America was being told that he is thinking of opening a new chapter with another "Axis of Evil" member- Iran, and possibly Syria. A fresh Carrier has been sent to the Persian Gulf to underline this
    developing idea.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:02 AM  

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