Brzezinski: The Smart Way Out of a Foolish War

Here. Jeez, who knows what to do? At this point folks like me (and probably you)--that is, to put it mildly, non-experts--can really have only hunches and tentative opinions about the next move in the Iraq debacle. But, since staying doesn't seem to be helping, it's time (or so goes my current virtually groundless hunch) to think about leaving. Brzezinski here assembles the pieces of a sketch of a reasonably coherent theory about why a generally leaving-oriented strategy is warranted.

One interesting set of points from the piece:

The contrast between the Democratic argument for ending the war and the Republican argument for continuing is sharp and dramatic. The case for terminating the war is based on its prohibitive and tangible costs, while the case for "staying the course" draws heavily on shadowy fears of the unknown and relies on worst-case scenarios. President Bush's and Sen. John McCain's forecasts of regional catastrophe are quite reminiscent of the predictions of "falling dominoes" that were used to justify continued U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Neither has provided any real evidence that ending the war would mean disaster, but their fear-mongering makes prolonging it easier.

Despite the fact that I've had a generally staying-oriented position until fairly recently, I'm afraid he might be right about this (though more thought required).

That's all I got.