Wednesday
Sep222004
Novak: Bush will get out of Iraq quickly
By 
Issandr El Amrani | Iraq US
Issandr El Amrani | Iraq US
Bob Novak, the conservative columnist who outed Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife Valerie Plame as a CIA agent, says he believes the Bush administration, if re-elected, will leave Iraq as quick as it can:
Perhaps not particularly credible -- although I don't quite see how it helps the Bush administration except by signaling hesitant voters that Bush might end US involvement in Iraq -- but intriguing. If Novak wrote about it, then someone must have leaked it to him and it was probably on purpose considering how leak-proof this White House has been. If true, I doubt there will ever be a "humanitarian" preemptive war again.
“Well-placed sources in the administration are confident Bush's decision will be to get out. They believe that is the recommendation of his national security team and would be the recommendation of second-term officials. An informed guess might have Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state, Paul Wolfowitz as defense secretary and Stephen Hadley as national security adviser. According to my sources, all would opt for a withdrawal.
Getting out now would not end expensive U.S. reconstruction of Iraq, and certainly would not stop the fighting. Without U.S. troops, the civil war cited as the worst-case outcome by the recently leaked National Intelligence Estimate would be a reality. It would then take a resolute president to stand aside while Iraqis battle it out.
The end product would be an imperfect Iraq, probably dominated by Shia Muslims seeking revenge over long oppression by the Sunni-controlled Baathist Party. The Kurds would remain in their current semi-autonomous state. Iraq would not be divided, reassuring neighboring countries -- especially Turkey -- that are apprehensive about ethnically divided nations.
This messy new Iraq is viewed by Bush officials as vastly preferable to Saddam's police state, threatening its neighbors and the West. In private, some officials believe the mistake was not in toppling Saddam but in staying there for nation building after the dictator was deposed.”
Perhaps not particularly credible -- although I don't quite see how it helps the Bush administration except by signaling hesitant voters that Bush might end US involvement in Iraq -- but intriguing. If Novak wrote about it, then someone must have leaked it to him and it was probably on purpose considering how leak-proof this White House has been. If true, I doubt there will ever be a "humanitarian" preemptive war again.
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