The idea that there is some strategy that could fix the situation in Iraq is just plain wrong. There is nothing we can do and never has been anything we could have done that would have made our invasion of Iraq turn out well. It is the invasion itself that is the problem. It is the use of war as an instrument of political strategy that is wrong and will always be wrong. No matter how smart our bombs, no matter how well-intentioned our Marines or our President, the only power the American military has in Iraq is to destroy.
That is the nature of military engagement. President Bush went in thinking that the destruction phase would be quickly decided, and Iraq would be put on a path of rebuilding after the dust settled. Unfortunately, the dust in Iraq will never settle as long as our military is there. All anyone has to do to confound our objectives is to stir up the dust, or better yet, provoke us into stirring it up, an absurdly easy proposition. For all the talk of rebuilding, our military does best what it is designed to do: kill and destroy. The fatal flaw in our Iraq adventure is that for all its noble intentions, it is so easily exposed as a brutal and disagreeable presence by but a few determined people. And now our ability to affect events in Iraq (and elsewhere in the Middle East) diminishes daily, as Iraqis and others recognize the folly of using military means to effect political outcomes. In a sense, America has become irrelevant to Iraq's future.
In looking for new and "better" strategies in Iraq, Democrats are walking into a trap set by the neocons. There is no fix for Iraq, the neocon trick is to get the liberals to make bad policy choices too, thus they can share in the blame. The neocons have created one intractable problem after another, and liberals look like patsies trying to work out solutions to neocon problems. The central neocon strategy is to stalemate government, as with the budget deficit, the economy, social policy and general governance, to where there remain no good policy options. Meanwhile, the American public has swallowed the decoy philosophy of the neocons, from pre-emptive war to supply-side economics, that cover for their true government-crippling agenda. It's time to show Americans how they've been duped by the neocons.
Democrats looking for better Iraq strategies are simply playing the neocons' game. There really isn't "a better way." Democrats need to present a new picture (not a different frame, Mr. Lackoff), and that is where leadership comes in. Changing public views requires a compelling vision set out in an articulate voice. Think Ronald Reagan without the demagoguery and contempt for governance, without the adolescent macho posturing. Imagine sincere concern for the public weal and reasonable, science-based, flexible, democracy-building policies.
Selling ideas is not that different from selling products; you get up there and talk about the good news. In Iraq, the good news is we've learned from the neocons' myriad mistakes. War is not a good foreign policy tool. Even overwhelming military superiority gives very little leverage in the political realm. Security may be better achieved through negotiation and cooperation than through violence. And many more. The time to speak out is while the neocon failures are fresh and still hurting us, not some years down the road as we look back.
There is a lot of good news in a liberal agenda, and a lot of hard evidence that the current neocon-inspired policies are in error. The only way out is to refuse to play the neocons' cynical game of stalemate. Democrats need to come up with a different vision for America or we're all going to be caught in the neocons' trap for a long long time.