When Michael Yon–who has spent as much or more time on the ground in Iraq as anyone–speaks, I listen, even when I disagree. And while it is undoubtedly true, as Yon argues, that elements of the Sadrist militia have devolved into criminality, it is also true that Sadrism is, arguably, the most popular trend among the Shi’ite majority in Iraq–and that involving ourselves in an intra-Shi’ite struggle is not a very wise course of action. It’s difficult to stand by when Sadrist Special Groups are lobbing rockets into the Green Zone, but our current involvement in Sadr City also has the effect of drawing us deeper into an internecine Shi’ite struggle that really ain’t our fight. We should finish the battle against Al Qaeda in Iraq up in Mosul while continuing to draw down our troops. Let the Shi’ites settle their own hash.
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The Phony War: Obama and Romney Are Debating Character, Not Policy
More than five months from Election Day, the back-and-forth about Mitt Romney’s record at Bain already feels played out. Unfortunately, there’s good reason to expect the campaign continues in this vein indefinitely. Neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney are terribly interested in dwelling on policy platforms. Romney’s plan to slash spending and keep taxes low on the wealthy isn’t especially popular, at least not at any level of detail beyond a blithe promise to shrink the deficit. Meanwhile, Obama’s signature first-term achievements, like health care, the stimulus and Wall Street reform, are all unpopular or tricky to sell. (The Dodd-Frank bill is the most popular of these, but hyping it means offending wealthy donors.) So what we’re getting instead is a superficial duel about character–and, worse, one that’s based on the largely false premise that the better man can better “manage” the economy back to health.
