Kenneth Pollack’s article in The Atlantic Monthly addresses the ‘errors’ in his book “The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq” (Kenneth M. Pollack). In my opinion, The Threatening Storm is still one of the best resources available for understanding the situation in Iraq. Pollack provides an excellent review of the history of Iraq, with references so that one can verify and cross-examine Pollack’s statements.
In the Atlantic Monthly article, Pollack addresses primarily the WMD argument for going to war and the failure to turn up any WMD or even any credible weapons development program inside Iraq. I thought the WMD argument was ill conceived from the onset and I questioned the timing of the attack on Iraq. Pollack answers some of those questions. However, I think one of the most important points of the article is to remind us that while it is easy to see with 20/20 hindsight the mistakes that were made, it is much harder to look into a crystal ball and achieve the same remarkable vision.
All of this does not change the fact that Iraq needs the opportunity to rebuild its nation. The security that we provide there is important. I do not think we should simply abandon them to civil war. It is both morally wrong and a dangerous policy for a region on which the global economy is so dependent.
Aloha
[posted with ecto]