Fast-forwarding History

by dj moonbat

I've got mixed feelings about Josh Marshall. His credulity toward Kenneth Pollack's Threatening Storm exemplified the sort of liberal Wilsonianism that helped the administration ram through probably the most ill-advised foreign policy adventure of the last quarter century. But he's a good writer, and as liberals go, he's got good connections to those who roam the halls of power.

Not the least of those connections is on display in an unusually good interview (part 2 of 2) with Peter Bergen (also see part 1). I think the most interesting thing about the interview is that Bergen takes a much stronger position on the non-connections between Saddam and Al Qaeda than he ever took on CNN, and that he takes almost no position about the possibilities for success (except to say that the administration's expectations that it would be an unmitigated success were fantasy "of the first order").

Indeed, Bergen makes the point that what we've done is to accelerate history, and that although nobody can reasonably claim to know where this all will end up, it will end up there faster than it otherwise would. I actually have a good bit more certainty as to where this will all end up than he does, but the interview is well worth checking out.