Kevin Drum, on Sullivan's arguments for staying the course:
Because it would destroy our standing in the world? This is a fatuous argument. Staying in Iraq is doing far more damage to our standing in the world than a careful withdrawal ever would. Withdrawing from Vietnam didn't destroy America's standing in the world, withdrawing from Algeria didn't destroy France's standing in the world, and withdrawing from Lebanon didn't destroy Israel's standing in the world. It was staying too long that did the damage.Which, of course, is the point that people like Bush will miss every single time.
Read the whole thing; it's as concise and clear an argument for withdrawal as I've seen.
Update: Commenting on the same (Sullivan) piece, Matt Yglesias has a line that is absolutely perfect:
It's one thing to ask young men and women to kill and die for a good cause. It's another thing entirely to ask them to kill and die as a token of your support for a good cause.[That's all, folks]
|