Word: plaines
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...liberal reformers there untenable, forcing them to choose between nationalism and the perils of appearing to be U.S. lackeys. Second, the U.S. would have no allies in a war against Iran and powerful enemies arrayed against it. The British, who maintain diplomatic relations with Tehran, have made it plain that they would not join in any such campaign. London points out that there is no record of U.N. Security Council resolutions condemning Iran as there was for Iraq, and there is no international consensus that the mullahs pose a threat outside their borders. Russia has important economic ties to Iran...
...event also was notable for being Florida Senator Bob Graham's first appearance with the rest of the gang. Graham brings two strong qualities to the race. He is a former Governor - and therefore, of necessity, a decision maker and plain-speaker - and he stands an excellent chance of winning his home state, which is mythic among Democrats after the 2000 debacle. But Graham didn't offend anyone; I can't remember a thing he said. (Oh, yes: he reminded the audience that he voted against the war; this drew applause...
...there is understandable caution and fear about what comes next. There may well be jubilation when the last of the Baathist thugs has been routed, but those scenes have already been neutered in the Islamic world by the--outrageously distorted--images of American violence and, more problematically, by the plain fact that infidels have made war on an Islamic state. (One imagines that even the Kurds and Shi'ites have understandable qualms about our intentions.) Meanwhile, America's stature has been diminished in a number of ways by the psychological "shock and awe" campaign early on that didn't produce...
...these complexities argue for subtle, careful postwar diplomacy. That seems unlikely. The Pentagon has control of the post-war plan, which makes some sense in the short term: the U.S. military is the only institution that can restore order to Iraq. But it seems plain that an extended military occupation--and, particularly, an interim government run by a retired American general with interim ministers including James Woolsey, a former director of the CIA, and other assorted neoconservative bravos--will further alienate our allies and lead much of the world to suspect that imperialism was our purpose all along...
Instead, Charlie Rock is guarding swatches of desert where danger swirls like sand devils and then disappears. Sure, kids still pester the troops for candy and water. But the grownups aren't in a hospitable mood. In fact, small groups of Iraqi soldiers, many in plain clothes, are letting the heavy metal pass--70-ton M1A1 Abrams tanks and Bradley troop carriers--and lying in wait for the soft-skinned, lightly armed trucks hauling fuel, food and water. Every day, the journey to Baghdad stretches ever longer as Charlie Rock and other units like it that expected...