Ret. Senior Foreign Service Officer of the US Department of StateFormer Chairman, Department International Studies of the National War CollegeAnd Deputy Director of the Department Of State Office of Counterterrorism1-8-7
Just a month ago the Iraq Study Group issued its much awaited, widely kibitzed, and--by the Bush team at least--now largely ignored report on what to do to extricate the US from Iraq. As that report faded from the front pages and prime times of major news media, it became clear that Bush and his immediate supporters were bent on painting the United States completely into a corner. They wanted no date certain or even a suggested process for a US departure; they wanted no part of bringing the neighboring states (notably Syria and Iran) into the discussion; they shied--perhaps with credible reluctance--away from attempting to solve the Palestine issues in the context of future actions on Iraq; They appeared to accept that events in Iraq were on a continuing downhill slide, while searching for some formula that would assure "success", a mantra that, whether political or military, remained undefined. They floated on the notion that a "surge" in US forces--upward of 30,000 most often mentioned--could tame the conflict plagued streets of Baghdad and other Iraqi provinces, and, if it didn't, the "surge" would be a show of US determination. The writer is the author of the recently published work, A World Less Safe, now available on Amazon, and he is a regular columnist on rense.com. He is a retired Senior Foreign Service Officer of the US Department of State whose immediate pre-retirement positions were as Chairman of the Department of International Studies of the National War College, and as Deputy Director of the State Office of Counterterrorism. He will welcome comment atwecanstopit@charter.net.
At last! Someone that writes with some honesty and sanity!
Just a month ago the Iraq Study Group issued its much awaited, widely kibitzed, and--by the Bush team at least--now largely ignored report on what to do to extricate the US from Iraq. As that report faded from the front pages and prime times of major news media, it became clear that Bush and his immediate supporters were bent on painting the United States completely into a corner. They wanted no date certain or even a suggested process for a US departure; they wanted no part of bringing the neighboring states (notably Syria and Iran) into the discussion; they shied--perhaps with credible reluctance--away from attempting to solve the Palestine issues in the context of future actions on Iraq; They appeared to accept that events in Iraq were on a continuing downhill slide, while searching for some formula that would assure "success", a mantra that, whether political or military, remained undefined. They floated on the notion that a "surge" in US forces--upward of 30,000 most often mentioned--could tame the conflict plagued streets of Baghdad and other Iraqi provinces, and, if it didn't, the "surge" would be a show of US determination. The writer is the author of the recently published work, A World Less Safe, now available on Amazon, and he is a regular columnist on rense.com. He is a retired Senior Foreign Service Officer of the US Department of State whose immediate pre-retirement positions were as Chairman of the Department of International Studies of the National War College, and as Deputy Director of the State Office of Counterterrorism. He will welcome comment at
At last! Someone that writes with some honesty and sanity!
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