It's time to start planning Plan B, isn’t it?
President Bush and his various advisors appear to be suffering from “planning fatigue”. They are able to wrap their heads around “The Surge”, but apparently cannot begin to imagine what they might do if that Plan fails to yield a positive outcome. The problem with putting all of our nation’s eggs into one Plan A basket is this; General Petraeus, represented to us as the latest in a string of pundits who are going to fix the Iraq situation, has gone on record as saying that the surge is starting late, with too few troops, and oh, by the way, is not likely to succeed.
So if we are to trust the good General Petraeus, the odds of Plan A working out are somewhere between slim and zip. Not good odds. Meanwhile the President is flat out of good ideas, Condi is busy lecturing people, and the Pentagon is not feeling very upbeat. Congress is starting to ask embarrassing questions and looking for those pesky “missing” e-mails. In short, this has been a stressful period for all parties.
It seems to me that the only logical path for patriotic Americans is to step up and help the government by generating a “Plan B” that our government could put into place the minute it becomes clear that “The Surge” has failed. If, of course, it does fail. We hope it works brilliantly, with minimal loss of life and that peace and understanding dawn in Iraq like a brave and balmy Spring morning. But while we harbor hopes, simple prudence argues that we assist the government by generating, from the grassroots, a viable plan for our government to immediately adopt if the Surge falters.
I am suggesting this partly in jest... but partly not. While we often laugh, as an alternative to weeping in frustration, I honestly think the broader American community could independently craft a consensus as to what our government ought to do next. Given the mess in Iraq today, what course of action would stand the best chance of leading to a positive outcome? Which outcome would save the most lives, stabilize that country most reliably, leave al Qaeda grinding its teeth in frustration, prevent other nations from making a grab for part of Iraq’s territory and oil, and be the most likely to make the best of a really bad situation?
Everyone here has an opinion. Can anyone think of a more pressing problem, for our country, for the world? I can’t. Should any bright idea be “off the table”? Not here, not in such a forum. Isn’t that the strength of such a discussion? The degree of anonymity we enjoy here should embolden even the shyest to speak up, the thin fiction of a username may afford an academic the courage to propose an unpopular or seemingly wild-eyed idea that could turn out to be the key concept that helps unravel this mess.
Others may prefer to spend their time talking about what a foul-mouthed slut Ann Coulter is, or similar topics of cosmic importance, but why don't we move beyond all that, first letting it be stipulated that, yes indeed, Ann Coulter appears to be a less-than-charming human being, and then talk about what is real, what is important, what could possibly help to bring to an end a dreadful mess in which a great number of people are dying, at such enormous costs to our nation and to world stability?