|
Edited on Thu Oct-21-04 02:06 PM by Skinner
WASHINGTON -- The most repeated observation about the outcome of the election is that the policy on the Iraq war will turn out essentially the same, no matter which candidate wins.
Either George W. Bush or John Kerry, the reasoning goes, will be forced to work through Iraqi elections, the continued use of military force and a gradual withdrawal of American troops, probably over a period of years. The corollary argument is that because neither can afford a precipitous change in the pattern already in place, Americans can expect much of the same post-elections.
From the traditional, non-neocon conservative right, this "behavioral equivalence" presumes that the president will be forced, by events and his own realization of the disaster that Iraq has become, to return to a less radical stature. Farewell, dreams of empire!
From the left and moderate Democratic and Republican centers, the senator is seen as a man who, despite his opposition to the Iraq war and his severe differences with the neocons, will find himself obliged not to lose another American war. Farewell, dreams of peace!
EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT
http://www.uexpress.com/georgieannegeyer/?uc_full_date=20041014
|