The Big Picture
Very rarely, a Senator speaks and acts in the manner we would expect of a member of that august body. Sen. Liberman does most days.
Military action in Iraq … defies orthodox notions of victory and defeat. We are not in Iraq to defend territory or even to destroy an enemy. Rather, we are pursuing the amorphous task of coaxing out of the Iraqi people and government political decisions that will result in a democratic, pluralistic society that is conducive to regional stability.
While the emergence of such a government and society is still worth pursuing, we must recognize that it is an optimal goal. It should not be the focal point of our Middle East policy or the sole measure of success in Iraq.
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The president’s plan is an early episode in a much broader Middle East realignment that began with our invasion of Iraq and that may not end for years. Nations throughout the Middle East are scrambling to find their footing as regional power balances shift in unpredictable ways.
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This opens up opportunities for solidifying our broader strategic objectives, and it offers a backup option in Iraq. Even as the president’s Baghdad strategy goes forward, we need to plan for a potent redeployment of U.S. forces in the region to defend oil assets, target terrorist enclaves, deter adventurism by Iran and provide a buffer against regional sectarian conflict. In the best case, we could supplement bases in the Middle East with troops stationed outside urban areas in Iraq. Such a redeployment would allow us to continue training Iraqi troops and delivering economic assistance, but it would not require us to interpose ourselves between Iraqi sectarian factions.
I wouldn’t know from personal experience, but this sounds like how grown-ups think. He even mentions the o-word (rhymes with toil). Lugar’s enemy resides not in the White House or across the aisle of Congress—but in Anbar and Tehran, right where he should be.