We'll start with the Washington Post story, which is that 'experts' have advised the President neither to reduce troop levels in Iraq, nor to set a timetable. By 'experts' I'm referring to people with actual military experience.
President Bush heard a blunt and dismal assessment of his handling of Iraq from a group of military experts yesterday, but the advisers shared the White House's skeptical view of the recommendations made last week by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, sources said.
The three retired generals and two academics disagreed in particular with the study group's plans to reduce the number of U.S. combat troops in Iraq and to reach out for help to Iran and Syria, according to sources familiar with the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the session was private.
I'm half-convinced that my joking suggestion that the ISG was trying to play Solomon by suggesting the most horrifyingly silly option, in order to make it plain to the American people that they'll need to choose either 'cut and run' or 'stay the course'. Next up is Robert Tracinski from OpinionJournal.com, providing a more humorous take, that the ISG report is the work of the fabulously successful superhero, Captain Obvious.
The problem in Iraq is that we can't withdraw U.S. troops because the Iraqi military is not adequately trained to maintain security on its own? Well then, the ISG tells us, all we need to do is to train the Iraqi military so that they can maintain security on their own, and then we can withdraw our troops.
The problem in Iraq is that the Iraqi government won't approve a crackdown to dismantle the Shiite militias? Well then, all we have to do is to convince the Iraqi government to approve a crackdown to dismantle the Shiite militias.
The problem in Iraq is that Iran and Syria are arming, funding, and encouraging Sunni and Shiite insurgents? Well then, all we have to do is to convince Syria and Iran to stop supporting these insurgents.
The problem in the region is that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict inflames anti-American sentiment? Well then, all we have to do is to convene a conference to negotiate peace in the Middle East.
See how simple that was? It's amazing that no one ever thought of these ideas before the Iraq Study Group came along. But no, don't thank them. It's all in a day's work for Captain Obvious.
Somewhat reminiscent of the Monty Python skit "Argument Clinic."
M: Oh look, this isn't an argument.
A: Yes it is.
M: No it isn't. It's just contradiction.
A: No it isn't.
M: It is!
A: It is not.
M: Look, you just contradicted me.
A: I did not.
M: Oh you did!!
A: No, no, no.
M: You did just then.
A: Nonsense!
M: Oh, this is futile!
A: No it isn't.
M: I came here for a good argument.
A: No you didn't; no, you came here for an argument.
M: An argument isn't just contradiction.
A: It can be.
M: No it can't. An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition.
A: No it isn't.
M: Yes it is! It's not just contradiction.
A: Look, if I argue with you, I must take up a contrary position.
M: Yes, but that's not just saying 'No it isn't.'
A: Yes it is!
M: No it isn't!
And it continues from there. As I have argued previously, the ISG may have been painted into a corner in terms of their recommendations, in that the political and military realities at home and abroad required the production of a third option, so they gave us one. Finally up is Bret Stephens, of the Wall Street Journal, who took over George Melloan's Global View column (subscription required).
All this can variously be described as wishful or foolish or wrong, and President Bush seems to have received it with a beady eye. With luck, it will find its place on the shelf between Kofi Annan's plan for U.N. reform and Robert Pozen's Social Security reform proposals.
What matters more than the fate of the ISG report, however, are the political symptoms it betrays. The report is surely right that there is "no magic formula to solve the problems of Iraq." Yet if the U.S. faces a terror problem today, it is not because it is an obnoxious hyperpower or a rapacious globalizer, but because of the deep suspicion that it is not too ashamed to betray its friends or cut a deal with its enemies -- in short, that it lacks a sense of honor. In this sense, the Iraq Study Group has already inflicted its damage, no matter where it goes from here.
Exactly right. That the parties most interested in stabilizing a successful Iraq - the non-terrorist Iraqis themselves, Shia, Kurd and Sunni alike - have all panned the report is an indication of just how accurate Mr. Stephens assessment is.
So, explain to me again why Mr. Bush should blindly plunge America along the path outlined by the ISG? It's almost as if the group had conclusively proven that the earth was banana-shaped.