On the "Unilateral" War
From Fareed Zakaria's column in the Washington Post this morning:
"Three years ago this week, I watched the invasion of Iraq apprehensively. I had supported military intervention to rid the country of Saddam Hussein's tyranny, but I had also been appalled by the crude and unilateral manner in which the Bush administration handled the issue."
Unilateral?
In the tent city I stayed at in Kuwait, I ate with Iraqi translators and Australian soldiers.
At the air field, awaiting transport into Iraq beside me, were Danish and South Korean soldiers.
And in my first 12 hours here in the Green Zone, I've exchanged salutes with British and Polish soldiers (as well as one from some other former Soviet republic -- Ukraine maybe? -- that I could not identify). And yes, I've even seen soldiers wearing UN patches standing in line for expresso here.
Less than 72 hours in theater, and that's already nine nations by my count. The Poles, Aussies, British (as well as Free Iraqi Forces) were with us during the initial invasion, and the others signed on almost immediately after the fall of Baghdad.
Perhaps "unilateral" meant something different when Zakaria got his PhD from Harvard than during my time there?
"Three years ago this week, I watched the invasion of Iraq apprehensively. I had supported military intervention to rid the country of Saddam Hussein's tyranny, but I had also been appalled by the crude and unilateral manner in which the Bush administration handled the issue."
Unilateral?
In the tent city I stayed at in Kuwait, I ate with Iraqi translators and Australian soldiers.
At the air field, awaiting transport into Iraq beside me, were Danish and South Korean soldiers.
And in my first 12 hours here in the Green Zone, I've exchanged salutes with British and Polish soldiers (as well as one from some other former Soviet republic -- Ukraine maybe? -- that I could not identify). And yes, I've even seen soldiers wearing UN patches standing in line for expresso here.
Less than 72 hours in theater, and that's already nine nations by my count. The Poles, Aussies, British (as well as Free Iraqi Forces) were with us during the initial invasion, and the others signed on almost immediately after the fall of Baghdad.
Perhaps "unilateral" meant something different when Zakaria got his PhD from Harvard than during my time there?
posted by Ben at 3:54 PM
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