Feeds: 
symbol identifies content for paid subscribers only.
ALL THE STUPID THAT'S FIT TO PRINT.
Bill Kristol did an important service yesterday by presenting, in a single op-ed, virtually every major conservative lie currently being propagated about Iraq and Democrats. In a remarkable collection of poor reasoning, misdirection, and smug obliviousness, he outlines the apparent conservative course for muddying the waters on Iraq to confuse people just enough so they consider voting Republican in 2008. The only redeeming element of the piece, really, is the op-ed standard word limit.
The gist of the piece is that the “surge” in Iraq has worked and Democrats are craven for not saying so. Kristol, as usual demonstrating his kiddie-pool depth of understanding of Iraq, neglects to mention that the (Baghdad-centric) surge is largely independent of the security gains in the west. The beginnings of those improvements predate our troop increase, and came from a strategy which Kristol would ridicule (or worse) if it wasn’t being effected by leaders of his own political party: negotiating with bad people.
A less charitable observer might even call it paying off the enemy: with acquiescent Sunnis being paid $300 per month for their participation in armed “concerned citizens” groups, creating a yearly salary that blows away the per capita income in the war-torn nation by more than a 2 to 1 margin, based on most current economic estimates. For years, insurgents were “terrorists,” not to be approached for compromise . . . until they said they would fight al Qaeda and we suddenly and completely reversed course, showering these former “terrorists” with money and arms.
Regarding troop levels, of course more US troops impede the insurgency's ability to wreak havoc, but that has never been the question; rather, the issue is whether any progress in Iraq is (1) sustainable and (2) politically oriented. The surge’s results, encouraging as they are when considering the correlative drop in violence and deaths, do not indicate cause for optimism in those areas.
Of course, because Kristol does not actually understand anything about internal Iraqi dynamics, he blindly accepts propaganda and fits it into his already-established conclusions. He praises the recent de-Baathification law as an example of the kind of political progress that serious observers have found wanting, but his lack of facility with Iraqi politics – which can only be described as willful ignorance, considering we’ve been at war in Iraq for nearly five years now – is laid bare by this conclusion. The law, celebrated by hard-line anti-Baathists and protested vigorously by Sunnis, is something like an Iraqi version of the “Clean Skies Act” – a bill whose name belies its content. Further, the bill was passed by barely a quarter of Iraq’s parliament – a slight majority of a half-parliament quorum – which hardly indicates real reconciliation.
Kristol is, if nothing else, consistent. He is just as wrong today as he has been for years, and perhaps it is this consistency that is what the Times values; if not, it is difficult to know why Kristol is allowed to tarnish such prime journalistic real estate. Whether he is being disingenuous or truly has no idea what he’s talking about is an open question, but the inaccuracy of his analysis and conclusions is as profound as ever.
His outline of Republican talking points provides a useful blueprint, but evaluated as an attempt at serious commentary, it is sorely lacking in sophistication or even veracity. The indefinite US presence in Iraq is as damaging to American foreign policy and values today as it was a month or a year ago, and Kristol’s flailing does not overrule that truth.
--Alex Rossmiller
COMMENTS (2)
In fact, it wasn't long ago that Kristol and his fellow war boosters - including of course Holy Joe and the wingnut chorus -- were reacting with outrage to the proposal that there might be amnesty for insurgents who had attacked U.S. troops, or, as they put it, "had blood on their hands." Now we not only gave them amnesty, we gave them weapons, and a salary -- and Kristol is celebrating.
What a tool.
BTW, this system promises to remember my personal info, but it never does.
Posted by: cervantes | January 15, 2008 2:59 PM
Ezra, would you please tell us again how Sen. Obama's speeches make time start swirling all around you? That was so neato.
Posted by: Brian | January 15, 2008 7:18 PM