The Fred Barnes article was pure folly, Pat Buchanan is right about that. I don't know what got into Buckley, he is flat wrong about Iraq. Perle, Ledeen, Sullivan, Fukuyama -- who cares what they think? But what Buchanan does not understand, or does not admit, is that Iraq is not source for discontent in some who might otherwise be supporters of President Bush.
The cut-and-run crowd hates George W. Bush, and they always will. If Iraq's government turned their country into a shining peaceful oasis in the desert next week, hate-America-firsters who screamed "high price of American empire" would still criticize this President. The current political turmoil for the President is overblown (just wait 'til November); and to whatever extent the political problems are real, they have very little to do with Iraq.
Dubai Ports hurt President Bush. That was an unfair political snafu. Katrina's storm damage in political terms for President Bush is lasting; it has not been (and may never be) repaired. And the President has not, until recently, focused his immigration policy first on securing the border and enforcing existing laws. I'm starting to see that change, thankfully.
Bottom line: President Bush is doing the right thing by ignoring so-called intellectuals, be they neo-cons or paleo-cons. The strategy he laid out in the 2004 campaign and the President's inaugural address is the same as he announced shortly after 9/11/01. This is a long war, and this is no time to declare defeat.
"Katrina's storm damage in political terms for President Bush is lasting; it has not been (and may never be) repaired."
This train of thought is pure Bovine excrement. I am living through Katrina hell... lost two homes and a business. President Bush is LOVED here in the affected areas. He has not suffered one iota in the South. It's just a MSM fabrication with which to bash him and his Presidency.
LLS
"If"...its the biggest word in the English language...Iraq's government (and the American government) will never be able to "turn Iraq into a shining peaceful oasis"...because governments are incapable of such things...if they were, I imagine all of us conservatives would enthusiastically support efforts by our own government to build, shining, prosperous, safe, well-functioning societies here in our own cities...but of course, that is a fantasy...as is the notion that we will "turn Iraq into a stable and safe democracy"