A price too high?

Fred Kaplan on Barry McCaffrey on Iraq: He asks, "Do we have the political will, do we have the military power, will we spend the resources required to achieve our aims?" Whether or not McCaffrey meant to imply as much, the answer to all three questions is probably "No." By his own formulation, after all, ...

Fred Kaplan on Barry McCaffrey on Iraq:

Fred Kaplan on Barry McCaffrey on Iraq:

He asks, "Do we have the political will, do we have the military power, will we spend the resources required to achieve our aims?"

Whether or not McCaffrey meant to imply as much, the answer to all three questions is probably "No." By his own formulation, after all, mustering the will, power, and resources will require 10 more years of occupation, $50 billion to $100 billion in economic aid alone, who knows how many more hundreds of billions of dollars in military spending, who knows how many more thousands of casualties—and even then great uncertainty would remain about the Iraqis' ability to hold their nation together. 

 

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