masala: the international spice
Flavor your world with masala


Wednesday, May 5
 

Conservatives on the Administration's Policy in Iraq

George Will
George Will

Time for Bush to See The Realities of Iraq
This administration cannot be trusted to govern if it cannot be counted on to think
and, having thought, to have second thoughts. Thinking is not the reiteration of
bromides about how "all people yearn to live in freedom" (McClellan). And about how
it is "cultural condescension" to doubt that some cultures have the requisite
aptitudes for democracy (Bush). And about how it is a "myth" that "our attachment to
freedom is a product of our culture" because "ours are not Western values; they are
the universal values of the human spirit" (Tony Blair).

John McCain
John McCain

Force Levels in Iraq Inadequate
McCain called it "irresponsible" to suggest "it is up to Iraqis to win this war" and
criticized Rumsfeld for trying to accelerate a turnover of the burden to Iraqi
security forces. He warned that proposing a reduction in U.S. forces now "will
cripple our ability" to stabilize Iraq by sending a signal "that the United States
is more interested in leaving than...winning."

Pat Buchanan
Pat Buchanan

Do We Go in Deeper or Cut Our Losses?
Americans supported Bush's war because we were persuaded that the malignancy of
Iraq's leader and the horrific nature of the weapons he had or was seeking meant
we must destroy his regime or our country was in mortal peril.

With that threat gone, what we are fighting for? Democracy in Iraq? Or is it now
just to avoid defeat in Iraq?