Wednesday, March 21, 2007

10 Fallacies in Bush’s Speech on Iraq Escalation

[Originally posted on goofyblog 1.11.07]


A scorecard on last night’s speech from Suzanne Nossel:

1. That the strategy is “new”

2. That the strategy is any more likely to work now than in the past

3. That the strategy is “Iraqi” in impetus or direction

4. That 20,000 troops will somehow change the game

5. That the Iraqi government enjoys sufficient legitimacy and impartiality to curb sectarian violence

6. That the al-Maliki government is a reliable US ally

7. That the Iraqi military has the competence to take the lead in securing Baghdad

8. That the terrorists and insurgents are wholly separable from the Iraqi population at large

9. That the US is in a position to “provide” a political alternative to the Middle East

10. That disaster is still avoidable - Bush cited a series of reasons why failure in Iraq would be a disaster: because Islamic extremists would grow in strength; because Iran would be emboldened to pursue nukes; because Iraq could become a terrorist haven. But all those developments are underway right now.

No comments: