Thinking about Iraq

There’s not enough good thinking about Iraq going on.  Tigerhawk[*1] tries to foster a rational conversation about what the best U.S. policy towards Iraq might be in the months and years ahead.  As Babylon 5’s Morden[*2] might have asked:  What do we want?

Anyone who is not trying to gain partisan advantage should think seriously about the best Iraq policy for the United States in the coming months and years. The purpose of this post is to propose a framework for considering both the Bush administration’s policy and alternative policies offered by both the right and left. Toward that end, I offer a series of minimalist assertions, delightfully free of evidence and supporting linkage. Each assertion or question is numbered; please comment below with reference to the corresponding number. (Background note: Newer readers may want to look at the most recent edition of my “victory conditions” post[*3] , published about a year ago at The Belmont Club. It includes my basic thinking about the intersection of al Qaeda and rogue states.)

The answer determines what the world will look like in the years ahead.