John F. Cullman has an article in NRO suggesting that we were outmaneuvered in Iraq recently. Here's the money quote:
Why exactly did the U.S. surrender all formal leverage over Iraq's new constitution? Was it a matter of a weak bargaining position or weak bargaining skills? It's hard to determine from this distance so soon after the event. But it's impossible to square this hands-off approach with President's Bush's bold announcement that "a free Iraq in the heart of the Middle East will be a watershed event in the global democratic revolution."
I'm having a few problems with that myself. I have serious reservations about whether this President really understands what such a global revolution will require. At the very least one ought to begin to see the unmistakable signs of institutions forming up, whose sole purpose is the acquisition of nation-building expertise and know-how and the implementation and organizational clout required to make it real. So far we're not only playing a lousy game of poker, there's just no evidence we're playing anything but "catch up." Well, on second thought that's going a bit too far. We are making headway, and learning vital lessons in Iraq, but they'll be forgotten quickly unless there's some sort of institutional memory created, and a way to apply the lessons to the next case without all the trial and error.
Posted by Demosophist at November 17, 2003 03:29 PM | TrackBack