Let’s not let the old men hurry us
Jim Baker and Lee Hamilton’s Iraq Study Group has yet to report. But that hasn’t stopped every conversation about Iraq from referencing it, and nearly always in a positive light. The sentiment is: Here come the graybeards to save the day. All of which rather worries me, not because of what I think the commission ...
Jim Baker and Lee Hamilton's Iraq Study Group has yet to report. But that hasn't stopped every conversation about Iraq from referencing it, and nearly always in a positive light.
The sentiment is: Here come the graybeards to save the day. All of which rather worries me, not because of what I think the commission will suggest but because we’re rapidly running toward a position where its proposals will be accepted in an unthinking manner. Remember how John Kerry and George W. Bush raced each other for the privilege of being the first to endorse the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission? The vast majority of those recommendations may well have been wise, but they were accepted before there had been a chance to properly study and debate them.
The danger is that the same will happen with the Baker-Hamilton report, especially as there are clearly no easy or pleasant solutions to the current situation in Iraq. It will also be politically safe to line up behind this bipartisan panel of elders and, as most Democrats are afraid of their own shadow on national security, they find this political protection appealing. For their part, the majority of Republicans will be grateful for any suggestion that allows them to put this war behind them.
The Baker-Hamilton Commission might come up with the least worst option for Iraq. But we should not rush to judgment. Age is no guarantor of wisdom. Nor is bipartisan consensus.
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