Thomas Friedman: Time for Plan B in Iraq

In 1968 former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite made a documentary following a visit to Vietnam during the Tet offensive. Urged by his boss to briefly set aside his objectivity to give his view of the situation, Cronkite said the war was unwinnable and that the U.S. should exit.

Then-President Lyndon Johnson reportedly told a White House aide after that, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America."

I respect the opinion of Thomas Friedman of The New York Times as much as any other columnist I read with respect to matters concerning the Middle East.

In Sunday's hard copy of the ajc his Friday New York Times editorial is reproduced. In his editorial he writes in part:

It is now obvious that we are not midwifing democracy in Iraq. We are baby-sitting a civil war.

When our top commander in Iraq, Gen. John Abizaid, tells a Senate Committee, as he did Thursday, that "the sectarian violence is probably as bad as I've seen it," it means that three years of efforts to democratize Iraq are not working. That means "staying the course" is pointless, and it's time to start thinking about Plan B -- how we might disengage with the least damage possible.

The Sunni jihadists and Baathists are as dedicated as ever to making this U.S. - Iraqi democracy initiative fail. That, and the runaway sectarian violence resulting from having too few U.S. troops and allowing a militia culture to become embedded, have made Iraq a lawless mess.

[The Bush] administration now has to admit what anyone -- including myself -- who believed in the importance of getting Iraq right has to admit: Whether for Bush reasons or Arab reasons, it is not happening, and we can't throw more good lives after good lives.

Since the Bush team never gave us a Plan A for Iraq, it is at least owes us a Plan B.
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Mr. Friedman's editorial was considered significant enough by the media that it was noted Friday evening on NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams.