Neocons Welcome Hearings

Playing Offense
Congressional hearings? Go on the offensive.
by Robert Kagan & William Kristol
01/15/2007, Volume 012, Issue 17

Administration officials are undoubtedly dreading the prospect of testifying, if only because time spent preparing and hours consumed by testimony will make it harder for them to do their jobs. But these hearings could have a real benefit. If the administration handles them properly, they can clarify for the American public the stark choice we face in Iraq: between a policy of withdrawal and defeat, and a policy aimed at success and victory.

We're now into our 5th year of the Iraq War, with an American death toll at 3013, and Dubya and his neocon advisors continue to push their failed policies. We'd like to hear Duyba explain to the American people how the continuation of his failed strategies will somehow turn the tide in what is now a civil war between the Shiia and Sunni factions.

This week the president will set forth his proposal. We hope and expect it will include a clear articulation of a new strategy for Iraq--a real effort, based on classic counterinsurgency doctrine, to secure the Iraqi population, first in Baghdad, and then in Anbar, along with substantial aid for economic development and jobs for Iraqis. This will be supported by a rapid increase in the size of the force in Iraq by around 30,000 troops, and will signal a sharp departure from the failed Rumsfeld-Abizaid-Casey minimalist approach.

That a surge of 30K troops, also known as the too little - too late option, represents the best strategy that Bush and his advisors like Kagan and Kristol can fabricate clearly illustrates that the neocons are out of ideas. How these supposedly intelligent advisors can suggest a continuation of the same failed strategy is a mystery.