Sanity may have come to Congress, but there are still no good choices for Iraq

By Nancy Jane Moore

The Washington Post headline says it all:

Panel May Have Few Good Options to Offer.

The panel in question is the so called blue ribbon bipartisan Iraq Study Group -- ten high-profile people led by James Baker, secretary of state and general advisor to Bush Senior.

The Post says:

Those familiar with the panel's work predict that the ultimate recommendations will not appear novel and that there are few, if any, good options left facing the country.

No good options. What a surprise. Those of us who opposed the war from the beginning predicted just this outcome. I'd take more comfort in having been right if the fallout from this idiotic war would not be haunting the world for years to come.

The truth is, I can only think of one good solution to the mess in Iraq: Go back in time and stop the invasion. There's only one trouble with my plan: It's impossible. Time travel is a great plot device in science fiction, but there's no science involved, just fiction.

Meanwhile, The New York Times says the Democrats plan a push for troop reductions starting when they take power in January. There's certainly support throughout the country for bringing our troops home. Many experts also say that pulling out US forces could bring about an improvement, since they are the focus of many attacks. Given the current chaotic state of civil war, I suspect a US pullout won't make things worse.

However, it still troubles me greatly that the US government created this chaotic civil war. I can't get past the idea that our country has an obligation to make things right -- only I don't know how the hell we do that.

Meanwhile, Juan Cole tells us that three US soldiers died on Sunday and 100 Iraqis -- at least -- were killed in political violence. He also reports: "Saudi Interior Minister Prince Naef said Sunday that Iraq has become a major base for terrorism." Apparently idealistic young Saudis are being recruited to fight the US and Shiites in Iraq.

The US elections are over. There is the prospect of saner decisionmaking in Washington. But sane choices aren't going to give us much immediate relief: The fallout from the Bush years will haunt us for a very long time.