[Peace-discuss] Upcoming Exit Ramp? What Was Wrong With This One?

[Robert Naiman]

Recent press reports suggest that President Obama is likely to try to
sugarcoat his announcement next week of a major military escalation in
Afghanistan with talk of "exit ramps": opportunities in the future to
evaluate and possibly reduce the U.S. military commitment. That's
supposed to make opponents of military escalation feel better, the
media suggests.
...
But it's hard to see why this should be at all reassuring. After all,
we just had such an evaluation, which, despite the widespread view
that the present policy has failed, resulted in the policy choice of
sending 50% more troops that the President is about to announce. Why
should we expect the next evaluation by the same actors to be
substantially different from the one that just took place, if the data
is the same?


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/upcoming-exit-ramp-what-w_b_370680.html

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/11/25/808011/-Upcoming-Exit-Ramp-What-Was-Wrong-With-This-One

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/419

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Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org