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Watch FRONTLINE

As always, FRONTLINE is the premier current events program on television. It's amazing how you can live through these events and not understand what has happened until someone places it in context. And PBS is the only network objective enough to host a show like FRONTLINE. By contrast, CNN has been a dismal failure in covering the war. What amazed me as I watched was the consistent view among the military advisers in the show that this is still mainly our problem, and that if we leave and chaos and suffering ensues, it will be mainly our fault. We have such a sky-high-minded view of ourselves - we think the rest of the world will blame us if we leave. In reality, the rest of the world is criticizing us for staying - and the future is up to the Iraqis themselves. We cannot stop people who do not want peace from engaging in violence within their own country. We need to return to a more realist view of foreign policy, hyperpower or not. The standard for justifying foreign intervention is attack by one state on another. As George F. Will has said, "There is no duty to do what cannot be done." I am afraid that in her heart of hearts (albeit made of ice, perhaps), Hillary Clinton agrees with those who say this is our problem and we have to stay. She is triangulating her rhetoric to win the nomination, but afterwards she will swing back to what she thinks is the center on this issue (the most important of the presidency) and commit to maintaining our force levels where they are. Therefore, she must not get the nomination.

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