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Does the United States suffer from a learning disability in Iraq?

FP editor in chief Moisés Naím has a new piece at PostGlobal, the Washington Post‘s innovative 24/7 “conversation on global issues with David Ignatius and Fareed Zakaria.” Naím fears that the United States is operating under the same faulty assumptions in getting out of Iraq that it operated under in going in to Iraq. And ...

By , a former managing editor of Foreign Policy.
602763_070406_moises_naim_05.jpg
602763_070406_moises_naim_05.jpg

FP editor in chief Moisés Naím has a new piece at PostGlobal, the Washington Post's innovative 24/7 "conversation on global issues with David Ignatius and Fareed Zakaria."

FP editor in chief Moisés Naím has a new piece at PostGlobal, the Washington Post‘s innovative 24/7 “conversation on global issues with David Ignatius and Fareed Zakaria.”

Naím fears that the United States is operating under the same faulty assumptions in getting out of Iraq that it operated under in going in to Iraq. And we all know how well that turned out, right? Naím cites three major faulty assumptions that, together, add up to a “learning disability” that the United States—including both the Bush administration and the Democrats in Congress—must overcome if it is ever to understand the problem of Iraq:

  • Overestimating the capabilities of the Iraqi government
  • Overestimating the capabilities of the U.S. government
  • Disdaining diplomacy

Check it out.

Blake Hounshell is a former managing editor of Foreign Policy.

Read More On George W. Bush | Iraq | U.S. Congress | U.S. Foreign Policy

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