Former national security adviser Zbigniew Brezinski said the other day that America should ask Iraqi leaders to ask us to begin withdrawing our forces, providing cover for the U.S. government as the country becomes increasingly impossible to manage. That would allow us, then, to declare some sort of victory while extricating us from an unwinnable position.
Three years after our foray into Iraq, more prominent Americans are looking for a way out. It represents a scary political prospect for President Bush, who has invested all his political capital on Iraq. So he went on the offensive in a Tuesday news conference, allowing himself to be peppered with tough questions from the media. Bush believes his best defense is a strong offense, but until the American people see real progress on the ground the war will continue to lose support.
One former supporter of the effort, a prominent conservative, reminded us recently that four years after Pearl Harbor, Americans were marching through Berlin, but after three years in Iraq we cannot cross the street in Baghdad without an armed escort.
A telling comment.
