I agree. Whatever credit Buckley deserves for energizing the modern conservative movement, I'm afraid age has softened his head, much as it did Barry Goldwater's.
I hope I don't go squishy like that when I get to be a geezer. But there may be physical changes in our minds that are beyond our control.
It is far too soon to "acknowled[ge] defeat." And what does Buckley have to say of positive developments spun off of our invasion Iraq? Such as Libya's giving up its nuclear weapons program?
(Is Buckley even aware that Libya's SECRETLY produced nuclear weapons components have all been dismantled and shipped to Tennessee? And if he is aware, does he think this would ever have happened without our having invaded Iraq?)
Ok, then what in your view is defeat? Continued Sunni-Shia sectarian strife averaging 50 deaths a day? Or continued political dithering between Sunnis, Shias, Kurds that we have a feckless government? All those things are happening right now.
My take is this: If this keeps up at the end of this year, we have to consider options. Our strategic objective is to Win the War on Terror. And if Iraqis don't share in these objectives, then we have to consider alternatives. We can certainly continue to fund them in US military and economic assistance. But to put our boys and girls on the line in such a context (if it continues) is, in my view, unbelievably stupid.