Bob Schieffer Asks The Logical Question

On CBS' Face The Nation this past Sunday, host Bob Schieffer asked the Senate Minority Leader, Republican Mitch McConnell, the "What if the Iraqis fail?" question James Fallows and myself have been wondering about. After being asked both about Bush's troop surge and the resolutions opposing it now active in the Senate (full PDF transcript here- the relevant portion starts on the bottom of page 6), McConnell responded:

I think I can pretty well speak for virtually all Republican senators when I say this is the last chance for the Iraqis to step up and do their part. This effort to quiet Baghdad is absolutely essential. If you don't have a relatively calm capital city, there's no chance the government can function properly. So this is their last chance. And I think a resolution in the Senate is--that sets up some benchmarks, some milestones that the Iraqi government has to meet--if there is to be a resolution, and I think there will be one--is the best way to go.

All sounds good, right? Their last best chance to succeed. But let's get to some specifics:

SCHIEFFER: Well, how long do they have? When you say this is the...
Sen. McCONNELL: Well, I don't think we...
SCHIEFFER: ...last chance?
Sen. McCONNELL: I don't think we want to put a timetable on it. But
everybody understands that this needs to succeed, and it needs to succeed soon. The definition of success being a capital city calm enough for the government to engage in the kind of political compromises that need to be made. It's pretty hard to engage in political compromise when bombs are going off everywhere. So you have to have some degree of calm before any of this has a chance to work, and it needs to work sometime soon.
SCHIEFFER: Now, you're talking about a resolution that would set benchmarks for the Iraqis. In other words, they have to do X by--will you put a date in that, by a certain time? Or what would those benchmarks be, Senator?
Sen. McCONNELL: Well, General Petraeus said the other day, obviously in a perfect world, he'd prefer no resolution at all. But if we had a resolution that made it clear that the Iraqis were expected to do certain things, it might be helpful to him. It'd give him something to--to--to point to in dealing with the Iraqis. You've got to do this, this and this in order to make this work. So...
SCHIEFFER: But will you put dates into this? They have to do this by...
Sen. McCONNELL: I doubt if we'll have a...
SCHIEFFER: ...April 15th or something?
Sen. McCONNELL: ...date in there, but I think they got the message.

So, to summarize- we have benchmarks without dates...which, of course, is not a benchmark at all, it's merely a wish list. All Mitch McConnell wants for Christmas this year is a political solution in Iraq (and a pony!). I also find the fact that they still have the basic equation backwards in which comes first, the politics or the security situation. The fundamental problem over there is not, and has never been, that their was too much fighting to come up with political compromise. The problem is, since the sides cannot agree on a vision of a future which allows for coexistence, they will not stop fighting. They have no reason to lay down their arms, as there is no peace for the sides to work towards.

Sen. McCONNELL:If someone like me, who's been the strongest supporter of the president you could find in the Senate on this effort, is saying this is the last chance for the Iraqis, I think that ought to help them get the message. This is the last chance.
SCHIEFFER: Well, what happens if it fails then?
Sen. McCONNELL: We're not going to talk about failure, we're going to talk about success. You know, one thing that a lot of people have forgotten is going on offense after 9/11 has been a huge success.

Right then, Bob Schieffer should have stopped the program and told Sen. McConnell that was about the worst evasion he'd ever heard on all his years of broadcasting. Seriously..."We're not going to talk about failure, we're going to talk about success." What a ridiculous statement. Maybe let's not talk about Iraq at all, and just hope it goes away. We may need an answer to that question very soon, and to just ignore it is contemptible. It's an abdication of his responsibility, and our troops deserve better.