NOTHING COMES FROM THE "REALIST" CRITIQUE OF PRESIDENT BUSH
A brief reply to Steven Clemons Washington Note
Con George-Kotzabasis
"Enlightened" realists, like Clemons and many others, do not realize that America being the sole superpower is in the unenviable position of being damned if she does and damned if she doesn't. But in a world that is ominously threatened by global terror and Islamofascist states such as Iran aiming to acquire nuclear weapons, it's better to be damned for doing things--even if one commits mistakes as a result of the huge scale of one's involvement and the uncertainties of war--than for doing nothing. Of course, if one does nothing ("nothing comes out of nothing", King Lear) one will be totally exempt from committing any mistakes.
Hence in the setting of the war against global terror and its state sponsors, the critique of the so called realists is completely misplaced and unproductive. It would have been more productive if they had corrected the errors of the Bush administration in the context of the war against global terror, instead of "decontextualizing" the war by an withdrawal of US forces from Iraq because of these errors. An withdrawal from Iraq before its security was accomplished would leave a political and military vacuum in the country that would be exploited by the Jihadists as a tremendous victory over the US, and would deal a deadly blow to the strategy of the latter against global terror. Furthermore, it would hurl the region into a maelstrom that would threaten the lives of millions of people as the present regimes would fight to the death to hold their power. All this will be achieved with the compliments of the shallow critics of the war and the political dilettantes of Congress, such as Nancy Pelosi, who want to put conditions upon the military and on general Petraeus how to fight the war.
A brief reply to Steven Clemons Washington Note
Con George-Kotzabasis
"Enlightened" realists, like Clemons and many others, do not realize that America being the sole superpower is in the unenviable position of being damned if she does and damned if she doesn't. But in a world that is ominously threatened by global terror and Islamofascist states such as Iran aiming to acquire nuclear weapons, it's better to be damned for doing things--even if one commits mistakes as a result of the huge scale of one's involvement and the uncertainties of war--than for doing nothing. Of course, if one does nothing ("nothing comes out of nothing", King Lear) one will be totally exempt from committing any mistakes.
Hence in the setting of the war against global terror and its state sponsors, the critique of the so called realists is completely misplaced and unproductive. It would have been more productive if they had corrected the errors of the Bush administration in the context of the war against global terror, instead of "decontextualizing" the war by an withdrawal of US forces from Iraq because of these errors. An withdrawal from Iraq before its security was accomplished would leave a political and military vacuum in the country that would be exploited by the Jihadists as a tremendous victory over the US, and would deal a deadly blow to the strategy of the latter against global terror. Furthermore, it would hurl the region into a maelstrom that would threaten the lives of millions of people as the present regimes would fight to the death to hold their power. All this will be achieved with the compliments of the shallow critics of the war and the political dilettantes of Congress, such as Nancy Pelosi, who want to put conditions upon the military and on general Petraeus how to fight the war.
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