A Dramatic Shift

Supporters of the invasion in Iraq are now beginning to see things differently. Sen. Warner of Virginia dipped his toe cautiously in the water. Now a much more significant re-assessment.

Kenneth M. Pollack, director of research and senior fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy and a leading expert on the Persian Gulf area, says Iraq is now in a low-level civil war, and it is looking increasingly doubtful that the United States “can break out of this downward trajectory.”

Pollack, who wrote The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq in 2002, says he wrestles every day with whether he should have written that book. He says what would “justify this war would be getting the reconstruction right, would be creating an Iraq that is stable, that is safer, that is more prosperous than it was under Saddam.” But Pollack says the country appears headed in the opposite direction. “I’m afraid the result that we’re headed toward in Iraqis that it’s going to be even worse off than it was under Saddam Hussein,” he says.

It's a powerful interview.

"Stay the course," the President says.

The recognition is growing that we must change course before we drive off the cliff.

GP