The Washington Post: Iraq Occupation Erodes Bush Doctrine

From BushRecall.org:

A must-read piece (registration required) in today's Washington Post outlines the four main pillars of the prewar Bush doctrine, and explores how each has been plowed under in the wake of the ongoing struggle in Iraq.

Preemptive strikes, unilateralism, and the belief that Iraq was the next cornerstone in the global war on terror have all been publicly debunked. "Of the four principles, three have failed, and the fourth - democracy promotion - is hanging by a sliver," said Geoffrey Kemp, a National Security Council staff member during the Reagan administration.

"There's already been a retreat from the radicalism in Bush administration foreign policy. You have a feeling that even Bush isn't saying, 'Hey, that was great. Let's do it again,"' said Walter Russell Mead, a Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow.

"It's a lesson in hubris. The administration thought it had all the answers, but it found out through painful experience that it did not," said Ted Galen Carpenter, vice president for defense and foreign policy studies at the conservative Cato Institute.

For a White House that has repeatedly demonstrated a dangerously flat learning curve, let's hope it's a lesson learned.