From Metternich - The high price of restoring the ancien régime.

Weekly Standard ^ | 12/11/06 | RalphPeters

[parousia]

FROM METTERNICH to JIM BAKER-- The ISG report assumes we can't win in Iraq so we shouldn't try; the reality is the US effort is slowly and steadily succeeding - the longer democracy is guarded in Iraq, the stronger it will root itself in the region. For his part, Baker argued--wrongly--that Saddam Hussein should be spared in the wake of Desert Storm; tolerated Saddam's savage suppression of a Shia revolt we incited, and grudgingly- belatedly- acquiesced in our protection of Kurdish refugees. One of many tragedies of our experience in Iraq is the incompetence of the administration's occupation policy . Removing Saddam Hussein from power was both an intelligent and a moral act. But the aftermath was so badly botched that many in Washington now long--as did those powdered cynics in Vienna--for the status quo. They would renew our commitment to Saudi Arabia and other autocracies, while quietly selling out the Lebanese, the Kurds, and the region's moderates in order to get us out of Iraq. We would return to a version of the old order and might gain a brief respite from our troubles in the region. But the greater effects of a renewed stability-über-alles doctrine would play into the recruitment schemes of the most radical Islamist elements in the region, while instigating human rights violations on a breathtaking scale. We would throw away any hope of a better future for a brief timeout today. The Iraq Study Group's members will assure each other of their conscientiousness, carefully guarding their legacies for future biographers and historians. Their recommendations will suggest, in one form or another, a return to the ancien régime. Any formula that attempts to extend the lives of dictatorships and oligarchies will end in disaster--even should it promise us the illusion of a "decent interval

[parousia]

Baker is part of the "realist" wing of the foreign policy establishment, the wing that never recommeded actual action to protect US interests, even when this recommended inaction blew up in our face. In his article, Peters compared Baker's commission to Metternich and the elder statesmen gathered for the Congress of Vienna. "Both assemblies symbolize a victory for the ancien régime, the bloody-minded refusal to accept that the world has changed profoundly and will continue to change. Baker is the dean emeritus of a reactionary school of diplomats--inaccurately labeled "realists"--whose support of the shah of Iran, the Saudi royal family, Anwar Sadat, then Hosni Mubarak, and, not least, Saddam Hussein delivered short-term stability that proved illusory in the long run. It was the 'realist' elevation of stability above all other strategic factors--echoing Prince Metternich--that gave us not only the radical regime in Iran, but, ultimately, al Qaeda and 9/11."

[NinoFan]

You made a little mistake with the title. I think you meant that for the topic.

[Van Jenerette]

Iraq Study Group

We need to thank our creator that this group of 'realist' were not around making recommendations during the American Revolution...

Imagine their reactions and study conclusions after Valley Forge, etc. Every major American city fell to the British during that war!

[hnj_00]

baker is nothing but a shi-itey anitsemetic a-hole.....it is unbelieveable that the bottom line of this crap (iraq study) is it is Israel's fault for protecting itself....jimmah carter the other antisemetic a-hole must have ghost written baker's work!!!!!

to compare baker to metternich is to demonstrate the ignorance of the author and lack of historical knowledge....

anyone can juxatposition history but when the facts don't add up do what lib/dems do....cast them aside...put out a lie....and when it is out there and refuted... a meaningless retraction or mea culpa sets everything right!!!