Fareed Calls it Quits

Fareed Zakaria is a man who I have always respected, even as I disagreed with him about the wisdom of invading Iraq. In this Newsweek piece, he is once again acting as the weather vane of a broader tide:

It is time to call an end to the tests, the six-month trials, the waiting and watching, and to recognize that the Iraqi government has failed. It is also time to face the terrible reality that America's mission in Iraq has substantially failed.

More waiting is unlikely to turn things around, nor will more troops.....Nor will new American policies help. The reason that the Democrats seem to lack good, concrete suggestions on Iraq is that the Bush administration has actually been pursuing more-sensible policies for more than a year now, trying vainly to reverse many of its errors. But what might well have worked in 2003 is too little, too late in 2006.

After the '06 elections, we are going to see a mass exodus of support from the current Bush Adminsitration policy in Iraq. By December, a new course will be charted, regardless of who holds the majorities in the Congress.

Fareed was a supporter of the war in Iraq and a proponent of our continued responsibility there. I was an opponent of the war, but felt that "since we broke we, we own it," and had a responsibility to the Iraqi people. It became clear during 2004-2005 that we lacked both the will and the competence to win the conflict, at which point taking the targets off our soldiers became the only responsible course left to us. I'm glad that Fareed's finally come around. Maybe he'll come home to the Democratic Party, like Powell and Limbaugh.