:: blame the extended gestation.... ::

:: Thursday, November 13, 2003 ::

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: November 09, 2003 - November 15, 2003 Archives: "The retreat of South Korea and Japan must be added to that of Turkey, which has also pulled back on earlier pledges to supply troops. The winter of 2003-2004 looks to be shaping up as a dark replay of that of the year previous. Only now with a difference. Last year our near total isolation could be floated on tough talk and denigration. It was, after all, theoretical. We had a nominal need for friends. We needed to get a UN resolution. We wanted the Europeans behind us. We wanted support from countries like Turkey and the Arab states. But our need was predicted and probable, not concrete, not immediate. Now it’s really concrete. We are literally begging for assistance and not getting it."

"In this whole unfortunate business, the White House took our preeminence and mistook it for omnipotence or something near to it. And by treating our preeminence as omnipotence they’ve put our preeminence into question."

:: Jim Nichols 11/13/2003 11:20:00 PM [+] ::
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