No Cause for Hypercaution

It comes as no surprise that Michael J. Gerson, a former Bush speechwriter and admitted Rumsfeld admirer, would defend the Iraq war in an attempt to salvage his tarnished credibility and neoconservative ideology. But it is shocking that Gerson claims his intention is to learn the right lessons from the Iraq war

It comes as no surprise that Michael J. Gerson, a former Bush speechwriter and admitted Rumsfeld admirer, would defend the Iraq war in an attempt to salvage his tarnished credibility and neoconservative ideology (???No Cause for Hypercaution??? Nov. 5). But it is shocking that Gerson claims his intention is to learn the right lessons from the Iraq war. You can only learn from history if you have the guts to ask the tough questions and to question fundamental beliefs. If Gerson was serious about learning from Iraq he would have tackled substantial criticisms of Bush???s war in Iraq that serious critics have repeatedly raised. Such as: can democracy be established in the Middle East through an unprovoked, U.S. military intervention and occupation? Has the war in Iraq made the problem of violent Islamic extremism in the world better or worse? Or, has ignoring international opinion and intelligence produced better or worse foreign policy decision-making for the U.S.? But Gerson doesn???t want to be troubled with such probing, hardball questions. Instead he frames the Iraq issue using overly simplistic criticisms of the war and invents a new, exaggerated threat to American foreign policy: a so-called ???hyper-caution???. The risk of a complete paralysis of U.S. foreign policy in reality doesn???t exist. It is not espoused by any serious challenger for the Whitehouse in 08. Gerson is just trying to paint some absurd, counter-scenario to portray his old boss???s reckless actions in a better light. In doing so Mr. Gerson shows his true aim is only to justify and defend the core neoconservative rationale that misled us into Iraq. Unfortunately Gerson???s work does a great disservice to our country which does need to learn real lessons from our ordeal in Iraq.

Nicholas Bianchi
Chicago, IL

It comes as no surprise that Michael J. Gerson, a former Bush speechwriter and admitted Rumsfeld admirer, would defend the Iraq war in an attempt to salvage his tarnished credibility and neoconservative ideology. But it is shocking that Gerson claims his intention is to learn the right lessons from the Iraq war. You can only learn from history if you have the guts to ask the tough questions and to question fundamental beliefs. If Gerson was serious about learning from Iraq he would have tackled substantial criticisms of Bush???s war in Iraq that serious critics have repeatedly raised. Such as: can democracy be established in the Middle East through an unprovoked, U.S. military intervention and occupation? Has the war in Iraq made the problem of violent Islamic extremism in the world better or worse? Or, has ignoring international opinion and intelligence produced better or worse foreign policy decision-making for the U.S.? But Gerson doesn???t want to be troubled with such probing, hardball questions. Instead he frames the Iraq issue using overly simplistic criticisms of the war and invents a new, exaggerated threat to American foreign policy: a so-called ???hyper-caution???. The risk of a complete paralysis of U.S. foreign policy in reality doesn???t exist. It is not espoused by any serious challenger for the Whitehouse in 08. Gerson is just trying to paint some absurd, counter-scenario to portray his old boss???s reckless actions in a better light. In doing so Mr. Gerson shows his true aim is only to justify and defend the core neoconservative rationale that misled us into Iraq. Unfortunately Gerson???s work does a great disservice to our country which does need to learn real lessons from our ordeal in Iraq.

Nicholas Bianchi
Chicago, IL

I might add two other comments for Michael Gerson:

Say the Bush Administration was attempting as big a step toward democratic government in Iraq as they could after a successful invasion and defeat of Saddam's army. Perhaps in summer of 2003, folks were saying "We really must be Gods!" But as the press noted in 2003 and 2004, the Admin was leaving no exits. There were no planned or optional exits. The destruction of the UN mission in Aug-03, the extended capture of Saddam all the way to Nov-03, the chaos/looting in Baghdad - all that was prelude. The exit strategies should have been planned. They weren't.

Karen Hughes has said often, noteably to President Bush, that the largest step to improving the US image in the world would be a significant resolution to the Israel-Palestine issue. But in 50 years, the US has taken no step to do that. One might say "Look at Carter's Israel-Egypt Peace Accord." But that had nothing to do with Israel-Palestine. The scale of such a resolution is demonstrated in the ideas of - Separating the Two Peoples - and - A 'New Palestine' in westmost Saudi Arabia on Gulf of Aqaba / Red Sea above Duba. But those resolutions will not happen, ever, because the West and the US has not responded in any real way in fifty years.

d

"Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread" Gerson you need to read and understand the preceding little chestnut -- you obviously never heard it before! I think Gerson is still under the effects of the Kool-Aid, and probably doesn't even begin to understand what a pipe dream he and the president were chasing. The fact that he sided with Rumsfeld against Powell tells you all you need to know about Gerson, and I just have this picture of the idiocy that preceded the invasion. Now Gerson comes to us and says, no need for hyper-caution, this after one of the most reckless rushes into war that our country has ever experienced!!! Bush is a clueless moron, and apparently so is Gerson. Its kinda funny, he quotes Bush like what he says really matters, that he has rational arguments to add to the discussion about what to do in Iraq. Sadly, that never has been the case, from the moment dubya took office!

You Made some remarkable comments about How The thinking of White House reflects in the Iraqi Home Grown violence that takes lives of many,almost everyday. I may not be as aware about the Issues and prevaling conditions as you do,but still would like to put forth some points worth consideration: People who follow Islam are a very United tribe.they consider every other Human who follows Islam as their brother.If an Islamic is hurt or killed in one part of the world its creates as stirr across all community.America attacked other Nations where Islamic people were killed,however unintended.But It caused ripples.secondly,Quran ,the religious book of Islam,doesn't favor violence,but does allow its followers,to go on Jihad - the religious violence when one of their fellow islami is killed or suffering because someone outside islam hurt him!When these Islamic followers are killed for various reasons across the world,the people get intrigued and they want to revenge on basis of the Jihad.However not all are courageous or ruthless enough to begin killing innocent people but here comes the Rise of the Likes of Osama,Al-Jawahiri.who themselves are no big Men,but their Mission of Jihad finds popular support in conventional,fundamentalist Islamists across the world. and hence the resources in the form of Money , weapons and providing asylum when the world is behind them.Last thing is America's unrivalled military might,that sometimes goes on to dominate some of the most beleaguered nations and killing many innocent people and fuels this ambition of revenge among these fundamentalists.When these three combine,the result is sometimes as horrible as WTC or mere London Blasts.Stripping Iraq off WMD was a noble idea, well supported across the world. But the way it was executed,with Air strikes on populated areas killing women, children and men alike,could hardly be digested by these fundamentalists.Currently,the Unstoppable street violence thats going on in Iraq,despite the presence of American forces is just the expression of revolt that the local people want the world to know about. America, on its own has developed itself in a happy, prosperous Nation. Its interruption in the world Matters is appreciated but only to the extent that it doesn???t cause the deaths of innocents and leaves thousands homeless.What Osama did , in the form of WTC is truly regrettable and will never be justified under any circumstances.but why the innocents in Middle East,predominantly Muslim countries have to bear the costs becoming the target of american cruise missiles that fly above the head,leaving behind just destruction , pain and suffering!We want a multi ethnic and coherent world where people of one culture cheer with others sharing the feel of togetherness,Not fighting to justify a particular culture as radical,chauvinist and Orthodox. and once this feel becomes prevalent in the heart of decision makers at High Offices , Humility will forever remain humilty not humiliation!

Gerson, like many who have unwaveringly supported the war, fail to learn the real lessons. First, regime change or regime removal are simply polished foreign policy words for invade or subverting the politics of sovereign nations. The United States has an extensive history of doing this, even if the nation's government is democratically elected. Regime change in this case makes it sound a lot nicer than the real term that should be used: invasion of a sovereign nation. Secondly, when slicksters like Gerson validate Iraq by discussing the 'liberation of the Iraqi people,' the gloss over the fact that the primary motivation was WMD's, which was quickly disproven, and the rhetoric moved to cover this blunder to make us seem like the altruistic 'beacon of democracy' in this tragedy. It is because there is not a clear rationale (except for the never stated profit motive) that the American public has ceased to support this war...not because of strategic bombing of the insurgents. Finally, Gerson tries to argue that we can not scrap this policy of preemption because it would be difficult to acheving the noble ends of stopping genocide. But let's be honest for once. This mission was not humanitarian, and if we invade another country under paper-thin security pretense that is as easily disproven, it won't be humanitarian either, no matter how hard politicos like Gerson try to spin it to wash the blood from their hands.

Hypercaution? What caution? There was NO caution. Gerson is an aider and abettor in the Iraq War. He is just another one of Bush's former aides trying to distance himself from what are clearly failed policies.

Au contraire...the most important lesson learned from the war is to be wary of slick spin-meinsters like Gerson's double speak: tactics: "argumentum ad hominem and the pot calling the kettle black": those favoring withdrawal (the Democrats) are politically motivated, while the initial decision and continued support for the conflict (the Republicans) were NOT?; "begging the question": the rationale for going to war was nation building and democraticization of the Middle East, not removing the threat of WMDs (as we were originally told) or for oil (as Greenspan had the courage to admit); "straw man": any decision to go to war requires absolute, 100% intelligence certainty and international unanimity; "gratuitous assumptions": Islamic terrorism would increase if we withdraw but not if we stay; and contradiction of widely estabished fact as reported by security agency that the threat of terrorism and international anger and skepticism toward the U.S. has significantly increased since 1993. Only the gulliible would buy this book.

I think the most important lesson from the debacke in Iraq is to keep men like Mr. Gerson far, far away from the trappings of power.

What incredible transparent rationalizations of an outrageausly conceived and impotently executed plan to extend American power.

There are two real lessons to learn from Iraq:

1. The world is not like the fantasies and fairy tales that conservatives like to portray from their ivory towers and think tanks. It consists of real people who live, who bleed, and who die, often in vain.

2. The most important lesson of Iraq is to stop lying to the American publc. They may be so gullible that te lies basedon "patritism" and "security" will work for a while, but eventually these lies become exposed by reality.

Mr Gerson: Please, you and the rest of the neocons, put our nation's interests and well-being above the interest of all other countries! Are you happy now? It's obviously beyond you to admit that you have been wrong, let alone that you owe us confessions and apologies.

I suppose that Gerson and the rest of the neocon cadre will always subsume our foreign policy and security interests to those of another nation. Their call to service and to action seems always to be, "Let's you and him fight!"

No the lesson in Iraq had nothing to do with ridiculous stereotypes that certain people and cultures don't have the capacity to sustain a democracy, the real lesson is not to let a bunch of incompetent people run your country. I've seen seven year olds take more time in planning out a play at their school than this administration put towards the aftermath of the war in Iraq. This was too complex a project for a group of self righteous, egotistical, right wing vigilantes to pull off, and now our service men and woman are left to feel the brunt of their ineptitude. I think they should all be liable for their incompetence in front of the country and the people they affected.

Mr. Gerson cannot possibly believe this dribble. First, Certainly India has become a democracy (after its people begged an occupier to leave for decades), but the million or so lives lost in sectarian violence gave rise to a split of India into Pakistan as well, which have been at war on and off since the partition. These 2 countries have provided a greater threat of nuclear war than any terrorist group, and Pakistan itself, not a democracy, is the de facto home to Al Qu'eeda, as well as the probable supplier of nuclear info for rogue states and other organizations, so it is not quite a completed sucess story for those who live in the reality based world! As for the failures of Iraq leading to hypercaution, Mr. Gerson is also refusing to understand the true risks of having acted recklessly. The world, nor the american people are willing to trust that the US government is telling the truth about possible threats and will require tangible proof before accepting any more adventures, when once upon a time, US word was considered honorable enough that americans and others wouldn't even questtion it. That is the price that we and the world must pay for this group's misguided adventurism and belief that they alone know all the answers. And of course occupation did not meet large scale initial resentment in Iraq, it wasn't until the Iraqi's realized that democracy came at the price of sacrifice and sharing that they rebelled against it. They choose not to take sides, and instead allowed the religious and power hungry among them to fight it out. Who could have guessed such a result (except of course for the president's own father who wrote about it in 1992 or so). Finally, the concept that terrorism hasn't increased with the use of US military force against Iraq is delusional. 19 or so people were responsible for 9/11 (you can add 20 or so more operational partners). There was no large scale following of Osama Bin Laden's calls for Jihad against America because US troops were in Saudi Arabia, or any of the otrher reasons listed. But, according to our own goverment, THOUSANDS of muslim men have left their homes and countries to come to Iraq to fight the americans. There will always be (and have always been) demagogues such as OBL to call for war and terror against the USA and other nations, the question of terrorism isn't about these calls, but about what actions lead to a rise in those who will respond. People like Mr. Gerson should stop arguing that they were right, take a breath, see what they have done to the world, and figure out what they can do to try to make up for the damage they have done to our nation, constitution and the world. You can call spilt milk art, but someone still has to clean it up. Mr. Gerson, by ignoring the constitution, by misusing fear from 9/11 for political and power purposes, you have been a part of a group that has unarguably altered what it is to be an american. Feel shame, and then do something to deserve forgiveness.

Mr. Gerson cannot possibly believe this dribble. First, Certainly India has become a democracy (after its people begged an occupier to leave for decades), but the million or so lives lost in sectarian violence gave rise to a split of India into Pakistan as well, which have been at war on and off since the partition. These 2 countries have provided a greater threat of nuclear war than any terrorist group, and Pakistan itself, not a democracy, is the de facto home to Al Qu'eeda, as well as the probable supplier of nuclear info for rogue states and other organizations, so it is not quite a completed sucess story for those who live in the reality based world! As for the failures of Iraq leading to hypercaution, Mr. Gerson is also refusing to understand the true risks of having acted recklessly. The world, nor the american people are willing to trust that the US government is telling the truth about possible threats and will require tangible proof before accepting any more adventures, when once upon a time, US word was considered honorable enough that americans and others wouldn't even questtion it. That is the price that we and the world must pay for this group's misguided adventurism and belief that they alone know all the answers. And of course occupation did not meet large scale initial resentment in Iraq, it wasn't until the Iraqi's realized that democracy came at the price of sacrifice and sharing that they rebelled against it. They choose not to take sides, and instead allowed the religious and power hungry among them to fight it out. Who could have guessed such a result (except of course for the president's own father who wrote about it in 1992 or so). Finally, the concept that terrorism hasn't increased with the use of US military force against Iraq is delusional. 19 or so people were responsible for 9/11 (you can add 20 or so more operational partners). There was no large scale following of Osama Bin Laden's calls for Jihad against America because US troops were in Saudi Arabia, or any of the otrher reasons listed. But, according to our own goverment, THOUSANDS of muslim men have left their homes and countries to come to Iraq to fight the americans. There will always be (and have always been) demagogues such as OBL to call for war and terror against the USA and other nations, the question of terrorism isn't about these calls, but about what actions lead to a rise in those who will respond. People like Mr. Gerson should stop arguing that they were right, take a breath, see what they have done to the world, and figure out what they can do to try to make up for the damage they have done to our nation, constitution and the world. You can call spilt milk art, but someone still has to clean it up. Mr. Gerson, by ignoring the constitution, by misusing fear from 9/11 for political and power purposes, you have been a part of a group that has unarguably altered what it is to be an american. Feel shame, and then do something to deserve forgiveness.

Perhaps the "student" didn't intend to address the issues you reflected upon. Those ideals may be for the next articale the "student" produces.
"Professor", stay on point!

calstatereader - Perhaps the "student" didn't intend to address the issues you reflected upon. Those issues may be in the next essay the "student" produces. Stay on topic "Professor"!