Frank Rich: Two Wrongs Make Another Fiasco

[Me.]

“THOSE of us who love F. Scott Fitzgerald must acknowledge that he did get one big thing wrong. There are second acts in American lives. (Just ask Marion Barry, or William Shatner.) The real question is whether everyone deserves a second act. Perhaps the most surreal aspect of our great Afghanistan debate is the Beltway credence given to the ravings of the unrepentant blunderers who dug us into this hole in the first place.

Let’s be clear: Those who demanded that America divert its troops and treasure from Afghanistan to Iraq in 2002 and 2003 — when there was no Qaeda presence in Iraq — bear responsibility for the chaos in Afghanistan that ensued. Now they have the nerve to imperiously and tardily demand that America increase its 68,000-strong presence in Afghanistan to clean up their mess — even though the number of Qaeda insurgents there has dwindled to fewer than 100, according to the president’s national security adviser, Gen. James Jones.

But why let facts get in the way? Just as these hawks insisted that Iraq was “the central front in the war on terror” when the central front was Afghanistan, so they insist that Afghanistan is the central front now that it has migrated to Pakistan. When the day comes for them to anoint Pakistan as the central front, it will be proof positive that Al Qaeda has consolidated its hold on Somalia and Yemen.

To appreciate this crowd’s spotless record of failure, consider its noisiest standard-bearer, John McCain. He made every wrong judgment call that could be made after 9/11. It’s not just that he echoed the Bush administration’s constant innuendos that Iraq collaborated with Al Qaeda’s attack on America. Or that he hyped the faulty W.M.D. evidence to the hysterical extreme of fingering Iraq for the anthrax attacks in Washington. Or that he promised we would win the Iraq war “easily.” Or that he predicted that the Sunnis and the Shiites would “probably get along” in post-Saddam Iraq because there was “not a history of clashes” between them.”…cont…

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/opinion/11rich.html?_r=1

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Kudos to Frank RIch

[Me.]

2. Dead On

With this one

[snagglepuss]

5. Even though I have bookmarked and recommeded this, I really have to wonder

how Rich can take at face value the statement that there are less than 100 AQ in Afganistan. It seems like a ludicrous and completely fabricated assertion. How is it remotely possible to arrive at such a number? :freak:

[Me.]

7. That Number Is Astounding

"even though the number of Qaeda insurgents there has dwindled to fewer than 100, according to the president’s national security adviser, Gen. James Jones"

All that lives and treasure for less than 100 AQ? Why haven't they rounded that little band up a;ready?

[gratuitous]

3. Okay, Mr. Rich; you're right

But John Sidney McCain III will continue to get guest shots on all kinds of talk shows, complete with fawning and scraping from the hosts and other panel members as Mr. McCain holds forth in all his deathless knowledge. And be 100% assured that no one will have the bad taste to bring up any of his previous nitwit pronouncements.

[Me.]

4. Yep

He's on CNN and his sidekick is on MTP

[jaysunb]

6. Nail, meet hammer !

I hope Obama passes out copies at the next strategy session. Seriously.

[Me.]

8. K

[Berry Cool]

9. Um, those of us who love F. Scott Fitzgerald know that when he said

"There are no second acts in American lives," he did NOT mean that everybody in America gets only one chance to be successful and that's it. He meant that American lives are like a play with a first act and a third act, but no second act in the middle: i.e., they rush pell-mell from beginning to end with no development in between.

Damn, I get sick of the "Fitzgerald was wrong about there being no second acts in American lives--look at all the people who made big comebacks" meme being lazily repeated by even supposedly intelligent writers like Frank Rich.