Least Common Denominator Sort of Thinking

I have to swallow my pride and thank Michael O'Hanlon (click on the O'Hanlon label at the bottom of this post for more) for the title to this post! It well describes the range of coverage offered on ATC Thursday regarding the Iraq Study Group's anticipated call for some type of withdrawal of some US forces from Iraq.

Let's just look at some of the individuals and think tanks that NPR seeks out to "educate" us. In a piece from Jackie Northam we hear from the following:

• Michael Vickers, a defense analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. (His profile at CSBA states "Mr. Vickers is currently a senior adviser to the Secretary of Defense for the 2005 Quadrennial Defense Review. From 1973 to 1986, Mr. Vickers served as an Army Special Forces Officer and CIA Operations Officer, with extensive operational and combat experience in Central America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and Central Asia.")
• Retired Army Major General Robert Scales
• Anthony Cordesman with the Center for Strategic and International Studies

Not a single source from outside the pro-military, pro-US foreign policy establishment.

As if this were not enough, NPR finishes its bludgeoning by having Robert Siegel host an analysis from "American Enterprise Institute resident fellow Reuel Marc Gerecht and Michael O'Hanlon, senior fellow in foreign policy studies at Brookings Institution.

Needless to say, except for the title of this post, there was nothing in these two features that significantly questioned or challenged overall US goals and strategies in Iraq - instead there was only narrow debate about tactics and operations.