Here's the antidote to Calvin Woodward's What-do-people-think piece about the war in Iraq. The headline and first paragraph are enough to make it worth a link.
As fighting continues, quest to bring democracy to Iraq nears failure
By Warren P. Strobel
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON - President Bush invaded Iraq hoping to spread democracy across the Middle East, but after the worst week of violence since Saddam Hussein was overthrown, he's now struggling to avoid a costly, humiliating defeat.
Later in the story, Strobel uses a conclusion drawn from an incomplete poll, which I've never seen a reporter do and I don't endorse. But he also quotes the same Charles A. Pena from the Cato Institute that Mr. Woodward did. Unlike Mr. Woodward, Mr. Strobel explains what the Cato Institute is:
Charles Pena, of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank that opposes most U.S. entanglements abroad, said the United States should cut its losses, leave Iraq and refocus on the al-Qaida terror network and other threats to the homeland. Washington could threaten that U.S. forces will return if U.S. interests are threatened, he said.
"This (war) is no longer about U.S. national survival - if it was to begin with," said Pena. He said a chaotic Iraq wouldn't necessarily pose a threat to U.S. vital interests. And while Iraq might descend into chaos if the United States leaves, "our staying doesn't guarantee that it won't."
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