The Escalation Debate in a Different Light

The Times paints a rather different picture of the discussion leading up to the decision to escalate the war in Iraq, and though it's different and slightly more encouaraging than the account given at the Salon, it's still not what I would call a rational decision.

The administration, the article says, had several choices that eventually boiled down to A) Pull out (which is what everyone wanted and it was what we expected) and B) Pushing harder with more troops (which wasn't very likely and we didn't expect it). The President, overriding the concerns of the Joint Chiefs and his own generals, the American people, the Congress and the Iraqi government, picked B. "Why would he do such a thing?" you may ask...

Over the past two months those diametrically opposed options — adding American troops, or pulling back to let the Iraqi factions fight it out — marked the boundaries of a vigorous debate inside the Bush administration. At one point, as Mr. Bush, Mr. Hadley, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the newly appointed secretary of defense, Robert M. Gates, weighed their options, the president asked his deputies, in effect: “Why can’t we just pull out of Baghdad and let the factions fight it out themselves?”

...

One senior official involved in the discussions said that Mr. Bush’s instinct toward the start of the review process — and that of others — was to consider a withdrawal from Baghdad, allow Iraqi-vs.-Iraqi fighting to settle itself, and dedicate United States forces to focus on pursuing Qaeda fighters. “As you peel that back and look at it, it just doesn’t war-game out for you,” said the official. “You’re supposed to go flying through Baghdad looking for Al Qaeda, and when you see ethnic cleansing going on look the other way?”

In the end, the official said, Mr. Hadley’s teams concluded that an American withdrawal from Baghdad would “crater the government.”

It doesn't war-game out for you. Why aren't we doing what the American people demand? It doesn't war-game out for you. Ah. That's clearer, then.

Why are we inflicting more troops on an Iraqi government that doesn't want them? Pulling out would crater the government... that wants us gone.

Why aren't we following the recommendations of our generals on the ground in Iraq? Because the National Security Adviser thinks he knows better.

Okay. Well, at least we know the reasons now.