Thinking the Unthinkable
When Will the First Major Newspaper Call for a Pullout in Iraq?
Greg Mitchell, editor of Editor and Publisher, asks who will be the Walter Cronkite of the current failing military adventure. Noting that the press bears part of the burden for the current situation by its compliance with the runup to war, he argues that the press has a responsiblity to help resolve it -- by thinking the unthinkable, a phased withdrawal.
He throws the challenge to the editors thus:
In a remarkable episode of ABC's "Nightline" last night, retired Army Lt. General William Odom, director of the National Security Agency during the Reagan administration, called for a phased U.S. pullout from Iraq over the next six to nine months. And yet no major newspaper has explored this idea.
That is not to say that calling for a U.S. pullout from Iraq is the only moral, rational or political choice. But if newspaper editors are not going to endorse that -- then what is YOUR solution?
The next step in his challenge is to offer the suggestion: "Now this must be contemplated: After our military adventures of the past month and, particularly, after Abu Ghraib, is the U.S. actually the problem and not the solution?" In short, if we are part of the problem, then what is our responsibility in the pottery shop -- to own what's broken and keep on breaking more stuff, or to get out and pay for others to clean up the mess?
(Aaron McGruder's "The Boondocks" this week plays out a dream scenario in which Bush seeks to return a broken Iraq at the Pottery Barn only to be told that there are no returns. Today, a moonlighting Colin Powell confirms that and explains why he is moonlighting.)
Mitchell was brought to this level of thinking after reading the letter of a father (Bill Mitchell, no relation to the author) who had lost his son in April to the son's commanding officer.
In that letter, Bill wrote about the "irony" that his son "was killed by the very people that he was liberating. This is insanity!!!" He added: "I am having a major problem with being OK with his death under these circumstances and I really do not believe that Iraq, the world, or the lives of his family and friends are better due to his death." Imagine the pain behind those lines.
He moves into his concluding argument quoting a column by Steve Chapman of the Chicago Tribune who summarizes the problem of staying the course.
Chapman summed up the "stay the course" predicament like this: "We can't manage an increasingly turbulent Iraq with the forces we have. We don't have many extra troops to send. We can't turn over security to Iraqis because they can't be trusted. We can't get other countries to help us out. And things keep getting worse."
Yet, he pointed out, "Democrats and Republicans agree that we have to go on squandering American lives because WE DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO." [Emphasis added]
He concludes with a challenge to the editors of America to make their case for what we should do. He will publish in E&P the comments he receives.
