What "cut and run" would look like
Elliot Cohen:
"...an administration would do something that would look more like 'cut and shuffle' than skedaddle. Somalia after the 'Blackhawk Down' incident would provide the model -- a pulling back from engagement in heavily populated areas, a hunkering down of American forces in their compounds, a declaration that the main mission (overthrowing Saddam Hussein or neutering Iraq as a menace to its neighbors) had been accomplished, and a disengagement over a year or two. During that period, authorized but anonymous senior officials would complain about the impossibility of getting Iraqis to take charge of their own destiny, while U.S. troops on the ground would do what they could to obtain a decent interval of stability before the whole mess disintegrated into obvious failure.
"The cardinal fact is that no one would be fooled....
"Cut-and-run cannot be disguised, and the price to be paid for it would be appalling. No one else would take on the burdens of Iraq; talk of handing it over to the United Nations or NATO is wishfulness, not strategy. Whatever one's view of the war's rationale, conception, planning or conduct, our war it remains, and we had best figure out how to win it."
Elliot Cohen:
"...an administration would do something that would look more like 'cut and shuffle' than skedaddle. Somalia after the 'Blackhawk Down' incident would provide the model -- a pulling back from engagement in heavily populated areas, a hunkering down of American forces in their compounds, a declaration that the main mission (overthrowing Saddam Hussein or neutering Iraq as a menace to its neighbors) had been accomplished, and a disengagement over a year or two. During that period, authorized but anonymous senior officials would complain about the impossibility of getting Iraqis to take charge of their own destiny, while U.S. troops on the ground would do what they could to obtain a decent interval of stability before the whole mess disintegrated into obvious failure.
"The cardinal fact is that no one would be fooled....
"Cut-and-run cannot be disguised, and the price to be paid for it would be appalling. No one else would take on the burdens of Iraq; talk of handing it over to the United Nations or NATO is wishfulness, not strategy. Whatever one's view of the war's rationale, conception, planning or conduct, our war it remains, and we had best figure out how to win it."
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