"We should treat the Iraqis as adults"


Interview with one of the very few Middle East authorities who knew what he was talking about before 9-11
The Pittsburgh Tribune has a great interview with Daniel Pipes. The whole thing is pretty good, but pay attention to these bits.

Q: Do you generally agree with President Bush's Middle East policy -- its goals and its methods?

A: I agree with the goals much more than the methods. I just gave an example of Iraq, where I believe the goal of getting rid of Saddam Hussein and trying to have a free and prosperous Iraq are worthy goals. I criticize the implementation. The same goes with democracy. I think democracy is a great goal for the region. I criticize the implementation; I think it's too fast, too American, too get-it-done yesterday.

Q: Is there anything major that the Bush administration should do now to make things go smoother?

A: We did something good in getting rid of the Taliban and getting rid of Saddam Hussein. That is really the extent of our role, to get rid of the hideous totalitarian regimes.

Let me add that I see these issues as basically sidelines. We are engaged in a war, a profound war and long-term war, in which Afghanistan and Iraq are sideshows. The real issue is the war that radical Islam, a global phenomenon, has declared on us and that has already been underway for many years, and we're still at the beginning of it. That's the really major issue.

Q: Recently I talked to Peter Galbraith and Ivan Eland, foreign policy experts who both favor a three-part partition of Iraq as a way to forestall or make a civil war in Iraq go away. Any thoughts on that?

A: Well, the neighborhood is unanimously against it and Iraqis are fearful of it, so I don't think there is much of a chance.

Hat tip Arts & Letters Daily.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Fri - April 7, 2006 at 03:23 PM  Tag


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