Reply #27: I saw the piece too. [View All]

[ProSense]

It was a short piece, but leaving out the diplomacy piece and characterizing Kerry plan as cut and run is extremely disingenuous. Northern Ireland was mired in violence for over thirty years, and diplomacy is what tempered it. I'm no expert, but nothing about Packer's characterization is flattering, and Hayden is hits the nail on the head.


Here is Packer:

One alternative was recently offered by Senator John Kerry. Speaking in Boston on the thirty-fifth anniversary of his Senate testimony as a Vietnam veteran, Kerry delivered an indictment of the Bush-Cheney doctrine, with its cult of secrecy and its contempt for traditional American liberties, that was far more devastating than anything he could bring himself to say during the 2004 campaign. Having found his voice, Kerry abruptly concluded the speech with a new war policy: immediate withdrawal if Iraq doesn’t form “an effective unity government” by May 15th; withdrawal by the end of the year if it does. But abandoning Iraq in an exasperated rush will leave ordinary Iraqis far more vulnerable to the murderous conduct of the militias and the insurgents than they are now. As Sunnis, Shiites, and, possibly, Kurds finally face off without an American buffer, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Turkey could be drawn into a wider war that could further destabilize the region and create large safe zones for jihadis.

http://www.newyorker.com/printables/talk/060508ta_talk_packer