Iraq: Real Choices and False Choices

People who aren't interested in debate and who have an enormous ego and who are cocksure they know what they're doing based on their gut-feelings often frame issues in false either/or categories such as: you're either with me or you're against me. We've all met people like that and they're not pleasant to be around. Often, trouble follows them wherever they go. Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld provide superb examples of the type. It takes an enormous public relations machine to make people forget they're being bamboozled.

The American Pundit reminds us that there are a number of arguments available for what to do about Iraq:

If the President's on the wrong track in Iraq, then what are the other options? President Bush would have you believe that the choice is "stay the course" or "cut and run", but the truth is, there are plenty of other solutions.

President Bush's offering is to "stay the course" as Iraq's rising factional violence leads to the government's disintegration and outright civil war, and US troops are forced to either choose a side or make a fighting retreat. That, of course, is the worst-case scenario, but it's a very real possibility as our highest-ranking military leaders pointed out last week. A couple days later, the top military commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, echoed that assessment, "The conflict here is transitioning from an insurgency against us to a struggle for a division of political and economic power among the Iraqis."

(snip)

...While only 34% of Americans favor staying the course, according to the poll I cited earlier, only 26% think we should withdraw immediately. Politically, militarily, and realistically, "cut and run" is just not an option.

Several months ago, Senator Biden (D-Delaware) suggested creating in Iraq a republic with strong Shiite, Kurdish, and Sunni states. That's an idea that has strong support from members of the Iraqi Congress, particularly from those who represent the southern Shiite and northern Kurdish enclaves. The Sunnis vehemently oppose what they call "partitioning" because their provinces have little in the way of oil resources -- the country's only economic engine at this point -- and they're afraid they'll get the short end of the dip stick. That's a valid fear, but not an insurmountable problem, although it'll require some adroit diplomacy and probably some guarantees from the international community to solve.

American Pundit does a round up of other ideas. It's too bad the TV media continues to talk as if there are only two choices: Bush's flawed choice or a worse choice. That's not the reality. But it is an approach that George W. Bush and Karl Rove deeply appreciate being passed on to viewers.

American voters ought to know by now that Bush and his advisers do not learn from their mistakes. There was a time when stubborn administrations were called on the carpet by Congress and if the current administration couldn't explain itself, pressure grew for changes to be made, but the current Congress too is unwilling to learn from its own mistakes as it continues to give Bush a free pass. The real question this year is whether the American people will start demanding better answers and better performance from our officials, or simply continue to give Congress permission to sit on its hands while an incompetent president continues to blunder on.