Quote:
Originally posted by Gattigap
Since then, Adelman acknowledged, the group's influence has declined, because "Iraq didn't turn out to be as promising as it was billed."
Adelman, a former Reagan administration official, said that although he supported the rationale for the war, he was torn about what had happened since. "I still have to sort it all out. I'm just not settled yet," he said.
Other neocons worry that the real trouble for them could begin if President Bush is not reelected and, among conservatives, the finger-pointing begins in their direction.
|
This "trouble" is fun to think about, but then again it may be fun for me just because the thought begins with "if Bush is not reelected."
Anyway, I think Adelman is being more gracious than others who share(d) his views. It was interested to read in the
Chronicle article someone posted a few weeks back* where they asked some leading neocons "how does it feel now that your theory has been discredited" or something equally slanted/unfair. The exec director of PNAC already looked like he was staking out his ground for the upcoming fingerpointing with this quote:
Quote:
"I'm on the record as saying the occupation would require several hundred thousand troops and the process would take five to 10 years," said Schmitt. "So you didn't get the cakewalk stuff from us. That said, the administration made it harder on itself because, frankly, they planned a military campaign that was quite efficient at getting rid of the government but didn't plan on getting rid of the regime, and the result allowed a lot of Baathist Republican Guard and other insurgents to get their feet under them and create the insurgency we face today.
"I'm willing to say policy was still correct, but I'm not willing to take the blame for people's inability to carry it out in an effective fashion."
|
It'd be fun to watch cuddly Richard Perle try to employ his usual sneer tactics against some old-school GOP types for a change. But then again, this may only be the figment of a hopeful but out-of-touch lefty mind.
* you may also remember this story for such quotes as "And then the very first foreign policy position taken by this new democratic Iraq, run by their exile friends, would be to recognize Israel, and that would somehow end the Arab-Israeli conflict, bunnies would dance in the streets, and we would find life on Mars." Ah, the fair minded journalism of the Chron. How I love it so.
Threaded Mode