[Dean's World] Dave Schuler: The Alternates We Have (And Don't)

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Posted by Dave Schuler:
The Alternates We Have (And Don't)
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1159113999.shtml


   Frankly, I'm getting pretty tired of the ongoing session of bitching,
   whining, and complaining about the War on Terror, generally, and the
   war in Iraq, particularly. The latest round of that would appear to be
   the [1]recent National Intelligence Estimate which notes, in the
   consensus opinion of professional intelligence experts, that the war
   in Iraq has, implicitly, made us less safe by creating a new
   generation of terrorists.

   This appears to me to be a fine example of post hoc propter hoc. How
   certain are they that some other pretext wouldn't have been found?

   What gripes me isn't the discussion. I wish we'd had a lot more
   national dialogue on how we should respond to terrorism before the
   Senate approved the Authorization to Use Force. But that was then and
   this is now.

   No, what gripes me is that people keep presenting (highly desireable)
   alternative we just don't have.

   The Republican consensus on the present conduct of the war in Iraq
   seems to be a variant on "stay the course" and that's certainly an
   alternative we have. There are some in the Democratic Party e.g. John
   Kerry, John Edwards, and John Murtha who believe that we should
   withdraw our forces from Iraq at some date certain, some by the end of
   the year, some in six months, some in a year and a half. And that's an
   alternative we have, too.

   The alternative we don't have is to remove our forces from Iraq and
   then return them if things go pear-shaped. That's politically
   impossible. Once we've withdrawn our forces from Iraq they're gone for
   good.

   Another alternative we didn't have is to do nothing in response to
   9/11. Doing something was politically necessary and, in my view, a
   military response was both pragmatically and politically mandatory.

   So, let's stick to the alternatives that we really have, shall we?

   More on decisions and alternatives at [2]The Glittering Eye.

References

   1. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/23/AR2006092301130.html
   2. http://theglitteringeye.com/?p=2361