Must Reads: What Course?
June 16, 2006
While President Bush is calling on Americans to "stay the course," op-ed articles in the New York Times and the Washington Post discuss President Bush's open-ended commitment to his failed strategy in Iraq. Nina Kamp, Michael O' Hanlon and Amy Unikewicz document the fact that measures of economic growth, violence and public opinion in Iraq are lower than or barely equivalent to pre-war levels. The facts on the ground, once again, do not match the Bush Administration’s rhetoric about post-war reconstruction. And, Eugene Robinson asks: without a real strategy for victory, what course does President Bush want the American people to follow?
The State of Iraq: An Update
By Nina Kamp, Michael O' Hanlon and Amy Unikewicz
The New York Times
June 16, 2006
" ...according to our latest tally of metrics (compiled from a variety of government and news media sources), Iraq has a long way to go. To be successful, the new Iraqi government will have to do things that its predecessors and the United States have generally failed to accomplish. Violence on the whole is as bad as ever. Sectarian strife is worse than ever. The economy has slowly come back to prewar levels for the most part, but is now treading water. As a result, optimism has waned. According to an International Republican Institute poll conducted in late March, more than 75 percent of Iraqis consider the security environment to be poor and the economy poor or mediocre."
To view the entire article, click here.
Stay the Course? What Course?
By Eugene Robinson
The Washington Post
Friday, June 16, 2006
"Fresh from his triumphal visit to Baghdad -- a place so dangerous he had to sneak in without even telling the Iraqi prime minister -- George W. Bush is full of new resolve to stay the course in his open-ended 'global war on terror.' That leaves the rest of us to wonder, in sadness and frustration, just what that course might be and where on earth it can possibly lead."
To read the entire article, click here.
