Richard Cohen

Psst! There's a liberal in the White House

"[O]ne reason for our involvement was an attempt to do some good -- rid the world of a really bad guy and make life better for Iraqis and others in the region. This 'liberal' intent may have left Dick Cheney cold and found Don Rumsfeld indifferent, but it appealed to Bush and it showed in his rhetoric and body language. Contrast it to the position of the so-called foreign policy realists, exemplified by the first President Bush and his trusted foreign policy sidekick, Brent Scowcroft.

"It was their decision -- cold realism at its best -- to end the first Gulf War with Saddam Hussein still in power, and not to intervene when Saddam later decimated rebellious Shiites in the south. Realistic? Sure. But also sickening.

"...For years to come, his war will be cited to smother any liberal impulse in American foreign policy -- to further discredit John F. Kennedy's vow to 'pay any price, bear any burden ... to assure the survival and the success of liberty.' We shall revert to this thing called "realism," which is heartless and cynical, no matter what its other virtues. The debacle of Iraq has cost us -- and others -- plenty in lives. But in the end, it will cost us our soul as well."

--Richard Cohen, The New York Daily News