The Big Sophistry of Low Expectations

The man nominated to head U.S. military operations in the Middle East is attempting to lower expectations about what we can achieve there.

"What we've been doing is not working," Admiral William Fallon, nominated by President George W. Bush to become the top U.S. military commander for the Middle East, told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.

"The likelihood that Iraq is suddenly going to turn into something that looks close to what we enjoy here in this country is going to be a long time coming," he said.

[...]

As head of U.S. Central Command, Fallon would have overall responsibility for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He would oversee Bush's plan to stabilize Iraq, announced this month, which involves the deployment of 21,500 extra U.S. troops.

"I believe the situation in Iraq can be turned around, but time is short," Fallon told the committee, meeting to consider his nomination.

So, what we have been doing is not working. Sending 21,500 more troops is merely an "augmentation" of what we have been doing. The Bush administration's goal of a flourishing democracy is, at the very least, "going to be a long time coming." Oh, and we only have very short time to turn things around.

Even as he seeks to lower expectations, Fallon seems to be trying to justify the present course. This is an outrage.

If we don't turn things around in the very short time that Fallon says we have to do so, which we cannot do with an augmentation of what we have been doing, then what? Do we leave? Do we continue to throw more good lives after bad?

The Bush administration is drowning in the sea of false arguments that it has used to sell this war, from the first word ever spoken about it until today.

There is nothing that the American military can do to facilitate peace in Iraq. The only solutions to the Iraqi civil war will come through diplomacy, or a negotiated settlement between the warring parties. Bush is unwilling to rely on diplomacy. He appears unwilling to side with one warring faction against the other. Therefore, all things being equal, the Bush administration is powerless to end the violence in Iraq. Remaining in Iraq will result in nothing but more American and Iraqi deaths, until such time as we leave and they fight their civil war without us in the way.

Therefore, all things being equal, the United States should get out of Iraq sooner, rather than later.