Flailing



The latest issue of The New Republic (Iraq: What Next?) is a perfect example of how the war hawks have managed to paint themselves into several different corners on Iraq. There are seventeen different options/opinions listed on the cover, in a manner that seems more like a bunch of looneys running around with their hands in the air than a coherent debate. That may not have been the intention of the editor who approved the cover or the cover’s designer, but it’s like they were writing their own version of the semi-regular feature at Sadly, No!, the “Two-Minute Townhall”, so with apologies to Travis G., I give you simply the text from the cover:

Two-Minute TNR

THE EDITORS
Give Politics a Chance
PETER BEINART
Threaten to Leave
GEORGE PACKER
Save Whomever We Can
RICHARD A. CLARKE
Admit It’s Over
DAVID RIEFF
Bring the Troops Home
ROBERT KAGAN
Send More Troops
PETER W. GALBRAITH
Divide Iraq
REZA ASLAN
Keep It Whole
ANNE-MARIE SLAUGHTER
Force Everyone to the Table
LARRY DIAMOND
Deal With the Sunnis
JAMES KURTH
Crush the Sunnis
JOSEF JOFFE
Ally with the Sunnis
NIALL FERGUSON
Bribe the Insurgents
MICHAEL WALZER
Talk, Talk, Talk
MARTIN PERETZ
Ignore James Baker
LEON WIESELTIER
Try Anything
LAWRENCE F. KAPLAN
The Troops and Us