US Right Shifting Efforts From Iraq To Afghanistan

By Cernig

Spencer Ackerman says the debate on Iraq is over because McCain and other GOP names are "supportive" of Obama's withdrawal plan.

I disagree. There's still the debate to be had over whether we really, really mean what's in the SOFA and whether we really, really think the Iraqis are adult enough to decide their nation's future on their own. The notion that we don't and they aren't is being championed by the same generals and neocon Wormtongues who now realise they've lost the main argument on Iraq withdrawal even though the Surge acheived its tactical goal - temporary security - without seriously impacting the strategic objectives of social reconstruction and reconciliation. Simply, the American people had run out of patience with their dreams of nation building and so they've constructed a fable of success in order to justify an about-face without embarassment.

But in any case, the debate seems to be shifting to Afghanistan - where McCain is the AEI's pointman on a push to keep the war's aims as broad as possible. There, we're getting exactly the same old tired arguments that McCain is flip-flopping on over Iraq: that focussing on anything less than "a model state in the Hindu Kush" is the same as wishing to "lose a war [rather] than lose a campaign.” And when it's time to leave - at the locals' request - we'll get the same old search for loopholes and questions about whether the poor natives are ready yet. Buyer beware.