JOLLY DAYS

The Tipping Point

This discussion at Lehrer on Friday was gripping if you care at all about the outcome in Iraq. The tipping point in Iraq is here. Listening to assessments of the situation, at this moment, from reliable sources, has more claim on your attention than usual — this isn't partisan buffoonery.

The cascade of interviews — first an interview about the disaster of planning and implementation by the administration — a discussion between two experts who had studied the issue and written a book:

…And it was very evident to the forces in the field that this was a different type of foe. In fact, some of the intelligence officers said this is a kind of enemy that's not going to go away when Baghdad falls.

But these lessons really weren't learned at the highest levels.

And then the reliable David Brooks in impassioned tones decrying the incompetence of the administration:

…What you see is, first of all, how much they stifled debate. There were a series officers who knew better, knew what was going on. And, …one of them … they tried to fire. A lot now regret they didn't say something in meetings, because the atmosphere was so stifling of free debate.

And then the other thing you're — you are furious about is that, as — as the authors said, March 24 comes along. They are hitting resistance in Nasiriyah. They — it's time to adjust. They never adjusted. It is not only people in the military who knew they had to adjust. I went back and looked at the punditry from columnists.

Everyone was saying: This is a guerrilla war. It's no longer against the Republican Guard. We need more troops…

Removing Hussein was an honorable act. It is pretty clear in the world's approach to Iran now, that no one is willing to act but the United States when it really counts. To take such a decent effort, removing a dictator and giving a chance for a future to a long oppressed population, and blow off the clear messages from the military on the ground, out of denial and ego on the part of Rumsfeld and Franks, is unforgivable.