Mark Steyn points out that that a crucial factor in dealing with the Arab world is the appearance of being the strongest. He worries that as of late, the Bush administration is appearing weaker and weaker.
I share this fear. I want to believe that what I'm seeing is a temporary hitch in Bush's full steam ahead approach. After all, we've had plenty of these before and he's always come out of them OK. But I've got this horrible rumbling in my gut that's telling me it's different this time.
While it's true that what happened at Abu Ghairib was horrible, it really shouldn't have been able to get this much traction. But the Bush administration has backed off and gon on the defensive. Now, matters are worse.
Additionally, we're now seeing rumblings that we might pull out immediately if the new Iraqi government asked us to. While I don't agree with Spoons that this is evidence that Bush isn't all that interested in the future of Iraq, I do agree that we're seeing a way of thinking that is deeply troubling.
The State Department's way of thinking appears to be in ascendancy in the administration. If this keeps up, a lot of people are going to die that didn't have to and our chances to remake Iraq will grow much smaller.
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