Cole in Salon on Bush’s Speech
My essay,
“Four more years?
As civilian casualties climb, the U.S. makes plans to keep 140,000 troops in Iraq until 2010. Will the public in either country permit it?”
Excerpt:
‘ On Wednesday, George W. Bush again laid out his rationale for declining to consider a drawdown of U.S. forces. . . Bush added, “We can’t tolerate a new terrorist state in the heart of the Middle East with large oil reserves that could be used to fund its radical ambitions or used to inflict economic damage on the West.” Although he said he was willing to try new approaches in Iraq, the tenor of his remarks was “stay the course.” ‘
For those interested in the Middle East more generally see also Abu Aardvark’s new omnibus “Qahwah Sada” (Black Coffee) page on the Middle East, which starts with Toby Jones on Bahrain.