The Arrogance of Leaving Iraq

Responding to Eli Lake's intriguing article in the New Republic, Commentary's Abe Greenwald goes so far as to assert that if the Obama administration forswears semi-permanent bases in Kurdistan and elsewhere, it's a sign of American arrogance:

In the unlikely event that Barack Obama insists on rebuffing our Sunni and Kurdish partners, he would establish the U.S. as a nation that’s indifferent to, indeed disdainful of, strategic alliances. Far from being the gesture of a “humble” country, such a rejection would mark a policy tilt toward unprecedented American arrogance. Remember, we are supposed to return to working together with allies. Turning down friends - in the Muslim world no less - is no way to signal America’s hope for cooperation among “the community of nations.”

That's certainly a novel interpretation. I had long assumed that there were a multitude of ways the U.S. can cooperate with countries besides plopping down a sizable chunk of her combat power in the middle of an enormous ethnic powder keg. My mistake!