Losing Hurts Twice as Bad: The Four Stages to Moving Beyond Iraq

Surveying the American occupation of Iraq, Tulane political science professor Fettweis maintains that the war is a “lost—and utterly pointless—cause” and that the only rational course for America is to accept defeat and withdraw so that the process of national recovery—marked by four distinct stages (shock and denial, anger, depression and acceptance)—can begin. Precipitous withdrawal is possible because none of the feared consequences of such an action—humanitarian disaster, regional instability or loss of U.S. credibility—is remotely likely, in Fettweis’s view. Linking the “debacle” in Iraq to the post-WWII grand strategy of internationalism, the author argues for a return to the founding fathers’ favored foreign policy of strategic restraint. Such a retreat from the world, the author claims, is virtually risk-free because today’s threats are minimal, and the resulting peace dividend would be better spent at home on priorities like Hurricane Katrina recovery. Fettweis’s thesis—although well-intentioned—rests on several narrowly argued assumptions: the war in Iraq is unwinnable and the “national security implications [of withdrawal] will be minimal.” More polemic than scholarship, this book will likely generate more heat than light. (Sept.)