Exit Strategies

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

As I've said in the past, I am a strong believer in Colin Powell's "Pottery Barn" rule: If you break it, you fix it (this should be more of an argument for not breaking it in the first place than in fixing it). In this case I'm speaking of Iraq. While I am disgusted by McCain's statements about America "surrendering" in Iraq, I none the less support his position on Iraq. I think we need to stay in until it's stable. If that takes ten years and ten thousand lives then so be it.

If we leave, and Iraq falls into civil war or a theocratic dictatorship then far more lives will be lost than ten thousand. Such a collapse could make Darfur look like a walk in the park.

While traditionally a Democrat I feel so strongly about this that I may vote for McCain this year. At the very least I thank the Republican party for putting forth a viable (read: non-religious zealot) candidate. I feel, for the first time in my life, that I have a real choice.

The following New York Times article by Michael R. Gordon in the January 20, 2008 Opinion section sums up the issues surrounding pulling our troops out of Iraq. This is in the context of the 2008 election so it's already out of date, and getting more so all the time. Yet it still sums up the challenges our new president will face when they take office in 2009.

War, Meet the Campaign - New York Times

My pdf print out of the New York Times article