« Political Language Matters: the “L” Word for Liberal | Main | Jerry Falwell Tops Hugo Chavez »

September 24, 2006

Comments

B.L. Nacos

I did read the article. And, yes, the author and the experts he interviewed recognize the mistakes made particularly in the case of Iraq. In my post, I mentioned Mr. Fallows’ suggestion that the U.S. should declare victory in the war against terrorism because such a declaration would be as false as the earlier “Mission Accomplished” claim. As the National Intelligence Estimate confirms, the number of terrorists and thus the threat of terrorist violence have increased. Mr. Fallows suggests at the end of the article that “Now we could use a leader to help us understand victory and its consequences.” The suggested text for such a message includes the claims, “We have achieved a great victory…” and “With quiet pride we recognize the victory we have won.” With the National Intelligence Estimate publicized, fewer Americans would believe such a victory declaration--even if it served as rationale for a needed change of course.

J Fallows

If you had read my article, you would know that it says EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE of what you are assuming here, and that it argues at length exactly what the latest CIA report is saying. (My article was saying that the battle against AL QAEDA CENTRAL, OBL's own organization, had been surprisingly effective -- but that the way to cope with the larger, longer-lasting threat of Islamic extremism was to avoid self-defeating policies like the war in Iraq.)

If you had read it you might have seen passages like this:
>>“The things we have done right have hurt al-Qaeda,” says Caleb Carr, who strongly supported the reasoning behind the war in Iraq. By this he means the rout of the Taliban and the continued surveillance of Pakistan. “The things they have done wrong"—meaning the attacks on mosques and markets—“have hurt them worse.”

“There is only one thing keeping them going now,” he added. “That is our incredible mistakes.” The biggest series of mistakes all of these experts have in mind is Iraq. (Followed by 3000 words on the disaster that is Iraq)<<

A modest request that you read something before criticizing it -- a failing that is ironic considering the way this post begins! I don't write this hostilely, but with some frustration that a "reflective" blogger would not do any research!

The comments to this entry are closed.

Never miss a post
Name: 
Your email address:*
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide
Blog powered by Typepad
Member since 03/2006