Cleaning up the mess

As I blogged yesterday, the Bush Administration is sticking to their story. See here Rummy's latest spin.

I was against the Iraq War from the outset, and still am. However, what Rummy says here also seems reasonable, at least in isolation.

If we had a magic wand, US troops would be out of Iraq today. But we don't have a magic wand, of course. If the US did so, however, and Iraq plunged into bloody civil war, it's strikes me that that might be even worse than staying there in some form or fashion. If thousands more Iraqis were to die in such a war, the US would have their blood on its hands, even if indirectly. Yes, fewer Americans would die, and that'd be a good thing.

No military strategist I, but I wonder: Would now be a good time to hand over the peacekeeping activities to, say, the UN, or perhaps nations of the Security Council, or even France and Germany? I know, I know, international organizations are as dysfunctional as the next. Still, we have a real practical problem here. We've created a mess; it seems wrong in context to just leave the mess. And, of course, we're not going to leave the mess anytime soon, as W has far too much at stake with the Iraq War.

It might be time to think a bit outside the box.

-Robert Capozzi