What will the Dems do about Iraq?
Saturday, February 3rd, 2007 1:40 pm by Neal
Despite all the rhetoric and back-tracking, what will the Democrats actually try to do about Iraq? Victor Davis Hanson tackles that question in “Hedging on Iraq,” and he predicts that few (if any) substantive moves will be attempted.
For all the talk of cutting off funds, redeployment, and pulling out, the new Democratic Congress will, at least for now, probably do nothing except speak impassioned words and make implicit threats. Here’s why.
…Fourth, there is the “what next?†dilemma. It is fine for Democrats to talk of “redeployment†out of Iraq, “engagement†with Syria and Iran, more soft power, Europeans and the United Nations, organizing “regional interests,†etc. — until one realizes that we did mostly just that for most of the 1990s.
And? We got Syrian absorption of Lebanon, Afghanistan as an al Qaeda base, a Libyan WMD program, worldwide serial terrorist attacks, Oslo, a Pakistani bomb, a full-bore Iranian nuclear program, Oil-for-Food — and 9/11. If one doubts any of this, just reflect on why the Democrats have not offered any specific alternative plans. And when pressed, they usually talk only of “talking†and thereby bring embarrassment to even their liberal questioners.