In Front of his Nose

Paul Krugman almost wanders off the safe path of criticizing Bush into the minefield of attempting to propose a solution. Then he pulls back at the last moment at the cost of a near contradiction

"Some pin their hopes on a political solution: they believe that violence will subside if the U.N. is allowed to appoint a caretaker government that Iraqis don't view as a U.S. puppet.

Let's hope they're right. But bear in mind that right now the U.S. is still planning to hand over "sovereignty" to a body, yet to be named, that will have hardly any power at all. ...

I don't have a plan for Iraq."

The last quoted sentence is completely unconvincing given the paragraphs immediately above. Krugman clearly does have a plan for Iraq. He thinks that the US should transfer sovereignty not "sovereignty" to the interim government.

I agree with what I think Krugman thinks. We have reached such a desparate situation that the best slim hope for a non disasterous outcome is to have Brahimi choose an interim government and hand over sovereignty. Sovereignty includes the authority to order US forces to leave the country.

We have to hope that the people chosen by Brahimi have the spine to tell their countrymen that foreign security forces are still needed for a while, that they will not be Islamic loonies, that they will not be grossly corrupt and that they will be a whole lot more competent than the team appointed by the US Supreme Court.

My point (if any) is that Krugman should have the courage to propose a course of action so that he will have to defend it when things go badly (as they will in any case). Criticising is easy and makes Krugman look like a genius (did I mention that he is a genius'). How would he do if he were President ?

I'm trying to imagine President Krugman. When reality is too depressing to face I escape into fantasy.