Posted by
ClearCommentary.com on Monday, June 02, 2008 2:53:27 PM
Although belated recognition of the obvious can be attributed to the resilience of political bias, we nonetheless welcome the Washington Post to the real world where progress in Iraq has been much in evidence for some time. Their editorial chronicles strategic and tactical advances and even mentions the political progress the Malaki government is making, in particular, the broad public support it is receiving. In light of that, the Post counsels, "it ought to mandate an already-overdue rethinking by the "this-war-is-lost" caucus in Washington, including Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)."
When the liberal lions at the Post petition a fellow liberal to rethink his policy of defeatism, it must be called progress. In the left's view of Iraq, none of this was supposed to happen. Well after the surge had produced measurable results, Senate Majority Leader Reid called our efforts a complete failure. The fervor with which politicians issue broadsides is often inversely related to the truth because their political goals blind them to the facts. The notion of hedging one's bet is simply not part of their doctrinaire approach to politics.
We'll refrain from the allure of schadenfreude as the Post becomes the first mainstream newspaper admits the obvious, except to marvel at the remarkable half-life of political bias. But, beyond the political machinations that underwrite the left's defeatist attitude, there's another, more profound and revealing motivation. If the U.S. is nominally successful in Iraq, that makes the prospect of military action against Iran more plausible, or at least less fraught with compelling political objections.
Although no one in a position of authority is seriously suggesting that a war-weary America start drafting plans for attacking Iran, economic sanctions aren't a credible solution because so many nations in Europe and elsewhere don't support them. Indeed, they continue to sign trade agreements with Iran which take the sting out of the modest successes the U.S. and its real allies have achieved.
But, since one of the by-products of the Iraq war is that the liberal establishment and its minions in the mainstream media have traumatized the entire nation by wearing down its resistance to war--already veneer-thin due to Vietnam--it's probably the case that even the threat of military action by a U.S.-led coalition is highly unlikely.
Therefore, regardless of whether or not McCain wins the White House, the nation appears to be heading towards a Paulite, non-interventionist posture, not unlike the one struck by the proverbial Ostrich. Of course, Iran's Ahmadinejad knows this and will calibrate his every move in light of it, exploiting America's weaknesses to his advantage.
However, since the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency and various counter-intelligence agencies believe Iran will have enough nuclear material for a bomb within eighteen months, the only remaining question is what Israel might do, from a pre-emptitve strike perspective. In any event, we can be sure that regardless of America's strategically supine position, Israel won't stand idly by as Iran acquires a weapon that could, in the words of Ahmadinejad himself, wipe them off the map.