July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
The questions must still be answered (12/07/06)
Editorial
Two questions have been hovering over the release of the Baker-Hamilton commission report on Iraq this week.
The first, spelled out on the cover of Newsweek, is whether President Bush will listen to the commission's recommendations.
The second and more troubling is whether those recommendations - no matter how well-crafted or how heartfelt they might be - can make any difference.
It's hard to know which one is more problematic.
The president's apparent unwillingness to consider alternative courses of action was highlighted by the odd spectacle on Tuesday of his nominee for secretary of defense contradicting the judgment of the commander in chief.
If that translates into a new flexibility and acceptance of Iraq's realities at the White House, so much the better. But it's a weird disconnect, just the same.
Then again, there's the very real possibility that the Baker-Hamilton group will unveil a series of recommendations that, while they could be endorsed by a majority of Congress and even adopted by the president, might not work.
The problems are just that great. The chaos is just that enormous.
Events have been set into motion that will be difficult to wind down.
Does Iraq cohere as a nation? Or do the Sunnis and Shia and Kurds go their separate ways?
How does the U.S. engage Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iran in a "regional approach" to the problem when there are significant religious and political differences between the three Muslim countries?
How does the U.S. hang onto the notion of promoting democracy when so many of the countries it is dealing with are authoritarian and view the push for democracy as a threat to those in power?
And - most importantly - what the heck is the role of American troops in all this?
It's one thing to agree that it would be a mistake for the U.S. to evacuate from the region. But it's another to figure out what the role of the U.S. military should be
Are we peacekeepers? Trainers? Referees? Or targets?
And what, after all, having set this mess into motion, is our moral responsibility?
Ultimately, that may be the biggest question of all. - J.R.[[In-content Ad]]
The first, spelled out on the cover of Newsweek, is whether President Bush will listen to the commission's recommendations.
The second and more troubling is whether those recommendations - no matter how well-crafted or how heartfelt they might be - can make any difference.
It's hard to know which one is more problematic.
The president's apparent unwillingness to consider alternative courses of action was highlighted by the odd spectacle on Tuesday of his nominee for secretary of defense contradicting the judgment of the commander in chief.
If that translates into a new flexibility and acceptance of Iraq's realities at the White House, so much the better. But it's a weird disconnect, just the same.
Then again, there's the very real possibility that the Baker-Hamilton group will unveil a series of recommendations that, while they could be endorsed by a majority of Congress and even adopted by the president, might not work.
The problems are just that great. The chaos is just that enormous.
Events have been set into motion that will be difficult to wind down.
Does Iraq cohere as a nation? Or do the Sunnis and Shia and Kurds go their separate ways?
How does the U.S. engage Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iran in a "regional approach" to the problem when there are significant religious and political differences between the three Muslim countries?
How does the U.S. hang onto the notion of promoting democracy when so many of the countries it is dealing with are authoritarian and view the push for democracy as a threat to those in power?
And - most importantly - what the heck is the role of American troops in all this?
It's one thing to agree that it would be a mistake for the U.S. to evacuate from the region. But it's another to figure out what the role of the U.S. military should be
Are we peacekeepers? Trainers? Referees? Or targets?
And what, after all, having set this mess into motion, is our moral responsibility?
Ultimately, that may be the biggest question of all. - J.R.[[In-content Ad]]
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