Tuesday, May 18, 2004
Muddling Through
Today's paper brings another condemnation by Krugman of the Bush enterprise in Iraq, concentrating as is his wont on an inability to face up to the expense of the Iraq undertaking. But more interesting is the thoughtful, perhaps wrong-headed, discussion by David Brooks of our "muddling through" strategy in Iraq. It has now occurred to him that the outcome of the too easily criticized course of events in Iraq may actually be a limited success. He is impressed, as I have been, that in spite of everything the situation has not spiraled out of control as quickly as it seemed likely only a few weeks back. He is cheered by the fact that whenever we run up against an obstacle we improvise, try something new. King Abdullah II of Jordan advises that what we need to manage the next few months in Iraq is a "strongman", probably a general from the former Iraqi army that commands widespread respect and is able to hold the country together until elections. We appear open enough to improvisation to accept the advice, as long as a face-saving transition to acceptance comes along. The problem right now would be the United Nations in the person of Brahimi. He is well along toward finding his own interim leaders, persons who may not fit in with this new "project". But keep tuned.
Today's paper brings another condemnation by Krugman of the Bush enterprise in Iraq, concentrating as is his wont on an inability to face up to the expense of the Iraq undertaking. But more interesting is the thoughtful, perhaps wrong-headed, discussion by David Brooks of our "muddling through" strategy in Iraq. It has now occurred to him that the outcome of the too easily criticized course of events in Iraq may actually be a limited success. He is impressed, as I have been, that in spite of everything the situation has not spiraled out of control as quickly as it seemed likely only a few weeks back. He is cheered by the fact that whenever we run up against an obstacle we improvise, try something new. King Abdullah II of Jordan advises that what we need to manage the next few months in Iraq is a "strongman", probably a general from the former Iraqi army that commands widespread respect and is able to hold the country together until elections. We appear open enough to improvisation to accept the advice, as long as a face-saving transition to acceptance comes along. The problem right now would be the United Nations in the person of Brahimi. He is well along toward finding his own interim leaders, persons who may not fit in with this new "project". But keep tuned.
Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
