One Thing at a Time

The limited goals put forth in the SOTU are the result not only of Bush’s weakened political position, but also an administration recognition that the presidency can only handle one major effort at a time. For this administration that is Iraq and its conflation with terrorism. In selling that program the new theme is that we cannot become isolationist. Anyone opposed to the Iraq war will now be vilified in those terms. I don’t hear anyone arguing for that position or talking about it other than Bush. This is a classic red herring.

Being opposed to Iraq is not synonymous with isolationism. It is the exact opposite. Fighting terrorism, which most of the world and all of the US agreed was warranted after 9/11, has been thwarted by our immersion in Iraq. We lost the support of allied countries and became a catalyst for terrorist recruitment. It is nice to be rid of Saddam, but that was a sidebar to what should have been our overwhelming strategy of defeating terrorism and its root causes.