Rich Lowry linked to a couple of what he calls "back-from-the-brink" stories from the WaPo, about the civil strife in Iraq. On the flip side of that relatively positive news is this article by Michael Rubin which demonstrates how, in the long term, we are likely being outmaneuvered by the Iranians, who are now duplicating their successful Lebanon strategy in Iraq.
Meanwhile, over at National Review, the editors responded to their founder's pessimistic assessment of the Iraq campaign, calling his declaration of defeat and those like it "pre-mature." Lefty bloggers immediately recalled conservatives' unbridled scorn for Howard Dean's declaration that the Iraq war was not winnable, and compared it to the rather muted conservative response to the similar assessment of their own icon. Indeed, I have heard no one on the Right questioning Mr. Buckley's support for the troops. Touché, I suppose, but as the Left gloated over the Buckley column, NR's Ramesh Ponnuru made the point that this was not really a reversal by WFB.
Posted by dan at February 28, 2006 08:15 PM | TrackBack