Rand Study on Iraq
The study can be summarized thusly: the long term answer is not to keep using Americans to kill insurgents, but to build a government that is honest and effective so that the people will have faith in it and be willing to fight for it.
How you do that without virtue, the report does not and cannot say. If we are willing to sacrifice enough blood and treasure, we can stamp down on the insurgents in Iraq as we are now doing. The larger question is "is it in our best interests to devote this amount of our forces to that goal?" Especially when, as the report notes, the Iraqi's themselves show little signs of building a government all three 1/2 major factions can have faith in.
How you do that without virtue, the report does not and cannot say. If we are willing to sacrifice enough blood and treasure, we can stamp down on the insurgents in Iraq as we are now doing. The larger question is "is it in our best interests to devote this amount of our forces to that goal?" Especially when, as the report notes, the Iraqi's themselves show little signs of building a government all three 1/2 major factions can have faith in.
posted by Mark Moore (Moderator) at Monday, February 11, 2008
2 Comments:
I wonder how much we paid the Rand Corp. for this 4th grade DUH... report?
More than you and I have made in our lifetimes.
But the conclusion of the report is that it is on the Iraqis to do this. Seeing as how they won't, what are the victory conditions, what is our exit strategy? How do we know when it is time to go home?
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