Kissinger: Lessons for an exit strategy

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Kissinger… I cant believe this war criminal is even allowed to walk free and comment on ANYTHING.
 
Thanks for posting the link to that article, Gilliam. I’m no fan of Mr. Kissinger, but he is an important figure worth listening to.

On the subject of a withdrawal timeline, Kissinger appears to be against setting a definite timeline, instead appealing to the judgement of the Iraqi people. I think this is a mistake.

We have already seen a set of deadlines set and met in Iraq, including the nationwide vote and, soon, the constitution (I do think the constitution deadline can be met). I’ll admit that I was skeptical of whether the deadline for voting could be met. Since it was met, though, I’ve come over to the thinking that setting deadlines in Iraq is a reasonable and effective method not only for benchmarking, but for motivating the Iraqis to make real strides toward meeting objectives.

Given the past success of deadline setting, I think setting deadlins for an American withdrawal is both reasonable and prudent. We cannot remain in Iraq indefeinitely, and so long as Iraq is dependent upon a large American military presence, it will never be truly “sovereign.” If the Iraqi government is going to succeed, it will eventually need to succeed without us. Setting a timeline will help make clear the urgency of this goal for the Iraqis. Furthermore, it avoids potentially committing us to an unwinnable war. If the Iraqis are capable of true sovereignty, they will not need us by the time of withdrawal. If they are not, our presence there only delays the inevitable.
 
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ShroudMan:
Kissinger… I cant believe this war criminal is even allowed to walk free and comment on ANYTHING.
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How christian of you.
 
The burden we took on as the military agent of regime change is legitimately moderated by the passage of time and the achievement of proximate goals. We said we’d remove Saddam Hussein, and we did. We said we’d train non-Baathist security personnel, and we have not only done so, we’ve left in place reserves that can maintain institutional batteries of reform. We said we would introduce popular rule, and we did so: parliamentary government at least exists.

The day has to come, and the advent of that day has to be heralded, when we say that our part of the job is done as well as it can be done, given limitations on our will and our strength. It is an Iraqi responsibility to move on to wherever Iraq intends to go. Our job depends heavily on being done when we declare it to have been done, not by the legerdemain proposed thirty years to get us out of Vietnam, but by reasonable talk about reasonable but limited commitments to Iraqi reform.

Only Bush, not his critics, can coalesce these considerations. This isn’t merely because he has up-to-date information. It is that the force of the leader is required in order to escape the conundrum with confidence. The Iraqis have made it impossible to succeed. We accomplish nothing more than a directer display, day by day, of the bootlessness of our venture — only Bush can bestride, as De Gaulle did his own impasse. The force of any argument for disconnection requires the prestige and dominance of the leader. There is no point in arguing for withdrawal, unless Mr. Bush beckons us to do so.

…All done before the next election, of course.
 
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mdzialo1:
The burden we took on as the military agent of regime change is legitimately moderated by the passage of time and the achievement of proximate goals. We said we’d remove Saddam Hussein, and we did. We said we’d train non-Baathist security personnel, and we have not only done so, we’ve left in place reserves that can maintain institutional batteries of reform. We said we would introduce popular rule, and we did so: parliamentary government at least exists.

The day has to come, and the advent of that day has to be heralded, when we say that our part of the job is done as well as it can be done, given limitations on our will and our strength. It is an Iraqi responsibility to move on to wherever Iraq intends to go. Our job depends heavily on being done when we declare it to have been done, not by the legerdemain proposed thirty years to get us out of Vietnam, but by reasonable talk about reasonable but limited commitments to Iraqi reform.

Only Bush, not his critics, can coalesce these considerations. This isn’t merely because he has up-to-date information. It is that the force of the leader is required in order to escape the conundrum with confidence. The Iraqis have made it impossible to succeed. We accomplish nothing more than a directer display, day by day, of the bootlessness of our venture — only Bush can bestride, as De Gaulle did his own impasse. The force of any argument for disconnection requires the prestige and dominance of the leader. There is no point in arguing for withdrawal, unless Mr. Bush beckons us to do so.

…All done before the next election, of course.
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Very well, then, I call upon President Bush to give us a deadline. When are you bringing our troops home? Give us a concrete timeline.
 
Philip P:
Very well, then, I call upon President Bush to give us a deadline. When are you bringing our troops home? Give us a concrete timeline.
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I think he has already answered your question. You might not like the answer for reasons of your own, but he has answered the question and given a concrete timeline. When the Iraqis can stand up to the terrorists we will leave. As they stand up, we will stand down. So watch the progress of them standing up.
 
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gilliam:
I think he has already answered your question. You might not like the answer for reasons of your own, but he has answered the question and given a concrete timeline. When the Iraqis can stand up to the terrorists we will leave. As they stand up, we will stand down. So watch the progress of them standing up.
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That’s not a concrete timetable. A concrete timetable would make use of the following format:

mm/dd/yyyy.

The Iraqis seem to be able to grasp the concept of deadlines. Surely the President of United States can as well.
 
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ShroudMan:
Kissinger… I cant believe this war criminal is even allowed to walk free and comment on ANYTHING.
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Why is that?

Could you please make an intellectual argument to refute what he is saying, instead of just hurling an insult at him to dismiss him?

Or are you using the insults to avoid intellectual discussion because you can’t argue with his logic?

I’m not trying to be a smarty pants here, but what is wrong with what he said?
 
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