Iraq War: Wesley Clark's version of "stay the course"

"I think we are winning.  Okay?  I think we're definitely winning.  I think we've been winning for some time." - Gen. Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on the Iraq War 04/26/05

"I just wonder if they will ever tell us the truth." - Harold Casey, Louisville, KY, October 2004.

I have a great deal of respect for Wesley Clark.  I supported him in the Democratic primaries in 2004.

But he's not being realistic on the Iraq War at this point: The Next Iraq Offensive by Wesley Clark New York Times 12/06/05.

He argues for at least a short-term version of stay-the-course, with specific modifications.  But his bottom line for now is this:

Yes, our military forces are dangerously overstretched. Recruiting and retention are suffering; among retired officers, there is deep concern that the Bush administration's attitude on the treatment of detainees has jeopardized not only the safety of our troops but the moral purpose of our effort.

Still, none of this necessitates a pullout until the job is done. After the elections, we should be able to draw down by 30,000 troops from the 160,000 now there. Don't bet against our troops.

What a disaster it would be if the real winner in Iraq turned out to be Iran, a country that supports terrorism and opposes most of what we stand for. Surely, we can summon the wisdom, resources and bipartisan leadership to change the American course before it is too late.

As far as the real winner turning out to be Iran, it's hard to see how that cannot be the case.  Critics of Bush's Iraq policy warned about such an outcome before the war.  But once the invasion began in March of 2003, it was almost certainly already too late to avoid that outcome.

The numbers of troops that Clark uses mean that he's essentially saying that once the troops are drawn down by roughly the amount they were increased prior to the December elections, the level should be maintained at roughly that of the last two years.  Continue to muddle along with no realistic chance of a good outcome, in other words.

Robert Dreyfuss criticizes Clark on his op-ed piece perhaps more forcefully than I would express it: Clark: Half Right on Iraq Dreyfuss Report blog 12/06/05.  Dreyfuss writes:

Clark calls for “intensified outreach to Iraqi insurgents” and wants to seek their help in ridding Iraq of Al Qaeda-style jihadists. Good, but why would insurgents help the United States against the jihadists without a promise to withdraw U.S. forces?. He wants Iraq to “enforce the ban on armed militias.” Good, but what universe is he living in to think that might happen, since the militias are the government? He wants a “broad initiative to reduce sectarian influence within government institutions.” Good, but, again, in what parallel universe?

All of which is Dreyfuss' way of saying that we've already "screwed the pooch" in Iraq.

 "Wars are easy to get into, but hard as hell to get out of." - George McGovern and Jim McGovern 06/06/05