Exit Stage Left

The Nation has posted a passel of pieces by Jonathan Schell, Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, and other lesser lefty luminaries that argue for US withdrawal from Iraq. Whole thing here.

The symposium is titled "How to Get Out of Iraq" so, needless to say, there isn't much variation on the theme. One interesting tension arises, however. Former CIA station chief Ray Close argues "There has to be regime change in Washington. It's the only way to solve the Iraq problem," while Jonathan Schell notes that Kerry is pledged to stay in Iraq.

As someone who was against the war and who feels the occupation has been going awfully (though not necessarily as catastrophically as many believe), I've got to say that none of these pieces provides a particularly strong case for "how to get out of Iraq" in a way that's either politically plausible or likely to make anything better there.

The closest anyone comes is, god help us all, sovietologist Stephen F. Cohen, who writes, "The only near-term and honorable way out is by linking a firm US commitment to a phased military withdrawal to an Iraqi popular election for a representative national assembly that would itself, not the occupation authorities or its appointees, choose an interim government, adopt a constitution for the country and then schedule elections for the new permanent institutions of government." Which is not all that different from what's likely to happen anyway.