Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Instant Upgrade
It should come as no surprise to anyone around these parts that, generally speaking, if Michael Rubin is upset about a policy or policy maker, I'm happy. Ezra Klein over at TAPPED hunted down these Rubin ruminations on the new pick to be Secretary of Defense.
Rather than inject a "new approach" to U.S. strategy, the Baker-Hamilton Commission's recommendations resurrect the old. In May 2001, Hamilton co-chaired an Atlantic Council study group that called on Washington to adopt a "new approach" to Iran centered on engagement with Tehran. And, in 2004, Baker-Hamilton Commission member Robert M. Gates co-chaired another study group that called for a "new approach" toward Iran consisting of engagement.
As Ezra snarked:
So the new Secretary of Defense doesn't favor launching ill-advised and counterproductive wars on Middle Eastern countries? That's, uh, terrible.Music to my ears. Maybe Gates even knows a thing or two about the diplomacy of breaking headlocks, ending wrestling matches and, as Nell Lancaster might say, the great Bart Simpson-Nelson Muntz armistice.
