Article

2005-01-25 Iraq-Jordan

Kissinger & Schultz: The Adults Weigh In On Iraq "Exit Strategy"

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Posted by Senator Barbara Boxer 2005-01-25 10:01:38 AM|| || Front Page|| [11137 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 I want the exit strategy for Germany, first troops in 1945. First in, first out.

Posted by Whick Sneth4832 2005-01-25 12:10:24 PM|| 2005-01-25 12:10:24 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 "Exit strategy" is generally a useless/dangerous concept, except as applied to very minor military interventions, or to most humanitarian assistance operations.

Posted by Verlaine in Iraq 2005-01-25 12:13:01 PM|| 2005-01-25 12:13:01 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 Watch for NPR and Gail Collins of the NYT to distort Kissinger's advice as she did in the runup to the war. Kissinger said explicitly, with a few caveats, in a WaPo editorial that he supported the war, and the next day NPR, Collins and Howell Raines spun his caveats as "Leading Republicans Oppose Iraq War."

Posted by lex 2005-01-25 12:16:24 PM|| 2005-01-25 12:16:24 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 Let's see - Kissinger was responsible for the disastrous withdrawal from Vietnam and Shultz was responsible for the other disastrous withdrawal from Lebanon. Vietnam and Lebanon made Uncle Sam's name synonymous with weakness, failure and defeat. And now they presume to lecture us about another disastrous withdrawal? I guess they would be qualified - they appear to know a thing or two about disastrous withdrawals.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2005-01-25 12:17:54 PM|| [http://timurileng.blogspot.com] 2005-01-25 12:17:54 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 Actually, ZF, I think everyone's well aware of Kissinger and Schultz's disastrous record, which is why IMO these two are trying to atone for their failures by contributing something sane and reasonable to the debate. Specifically by administering a pre-emptive bitch-slap to Scowcroft, Zbiggy, Baker and their pseudo-realpolitiker groupies in Congress, the NYT and WaPo.

Posted by lex 2005-01-25 12:21:26 PM|| 2005-01-25 12:21:26 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 The proper exit strategy in war is always victory.

Posted by Gen. Karl Phillip Gottlieb von Clausewitz 2005-01-25 1:05:35 PM|| 2005-01-25 1:05:35 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 Let's see - Kissinger was responsible for the disastrous withdrawal from Vietnam...

ZF, didn't the failure of Congress to fund Vietnamisation of the war also have something to do with it? Not being ornery, just not sure he was wholly responsible.

Posted by Pappy 2005-01-25 1:17:53 PM|| 2005-01-25 1:17:53 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 Direct hit, Pappy, it was Congressional whimpery that resulted in our pulling defeat from the jaws of victory. Killng untold numbers of our friends and allies in South Vietnam in the process.

Some things about Congressional Dummycrats never change, just ask me. -- Calif BB

Posted by Senator Barbara Boxer 2005-01-25 2:39:56 PM|| 2005-01-25 2:39:56 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 Actually there *is* an "exit strategy", but it is a strange one. Compare it to the "exit strategy" of the US Army leaving Germany at the end of WWII. They didn't but they did. Iraq is no longer the issue for the US military, any more than Germany was at the end of WWII. In Germany, not all, but many of the rifles turned east, to the new enemy. In Iraq, it will be the same situation, except the remaining rifles will be pointed towards Syria, Iran, Central Asia, or Northern Africa, wherever necessary. The new "Iraq Regional Commander" is a regional command (3 star), equal to CENTCOM in stature, but separate from the "Iraq National Commander" (2 star), who will report to him. Divisions will be semi-permanently garrisoned in Iraq with a Status of Forces agreement, much like they are in Germany. So all told, the "exit strategy" is a rotation policy.

Posted by Anonymoose 2005-01-25 4:10:54 PM|| 2005-01-25 4:10:54 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 There is no exit strategy, nor should there be. Setting a timetable for withdrawal would be a recipe for disaster for Iraq. It would also defeat perhaps the main purpose of the war, which was to establish a base to fight from in the heart of the Middle East. Unless something awful happens, there will be Americans in Iraq for the rest of the century.

Posted by Van Helsing 2005-01-25 4:42:38 PM|| [http://www.moonbattery.com] 2005-01-25 4:42:38 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 Exit strategy? Exit strategy? First victory, then we'll see.

"Klotzen, nicht Kleckern!"

Posted by Generaloberst Heinz Gunther Wilhelm Guderian 2005-01-25 6:06:05 PM|| 2005-01-25 6:06:05 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 Van,

You are slightly too pessimistic. I suspect the "winds of liberty" will blow stong throughout the Middle East. That should allow us to reduce our time in Iraq to 25 years or so, NOT a century.

Posted by leaddog2 2005-01-25 6:06:42 PM|| 2005-01-25 6:06:42 PM|| Front Page Top

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