Ziggy never fails to amuse: Realism trumps morality every time

Kerry has "dual-withdrawal" syndrome (here and here); Zbigniew Brzezinski naturally has a much more complex AA recovery program running. It is called Ziggy's Four Pointer.

Whilst Secretary of State Rice was in Europe, dogged by European protests, Ziggy offered up his 4 Point Program for an American Withdrawal from Iraq (at least, it was the first time I heard of it). My response was to call for Ziggy's retirement to his native Poland.

I may have gotten my wish.

Ziggy has written an article for the Financial Times again laying out his 4 Points. But what I find most interesting is the rationale he offers up this time,

how certain can one be that if America were to desist, the Shia and Kurd population of Iraq would not be capable of compelling on their own an arrangement with the Sunni-Arab community? Together, the Shia and the Kurds account for about 75 per cent of the population, and both are well-armed.

So, Ziggy, ever the realist, is ready to dump the Sunnis and let the Iraqi Shi'ite and Kurdish population compel an arrangement with the Sunnis?

What glue is he sniffing?

But seriously, I do understand Ziggy a little better. He just doesn't give a rat's ass about Iraq. It is not consequential enough,

The US needs to recognise that its intervention in Iraq is becoming part of a wider, dangerous collision between America and the Muslim world – a collision that could prove, if it becomes truly widespread, devastating to America’s global position. An America in a conflict with the world of Islam as a whole will be an America with more enemies and fewer friends, an America more isolated and less secure.

I've heard similarly phrased arguments, during the 1980s, justifying our then-relationship with the Butcher of Baghdad. But the overriding strategic concern then was the Cold War. I don't see the Islamic-American conflict in quite those grandiose terms?

But in fact, my respect for Ziggy has grown enormously. Anyone who agrees with Meatloaf (Two out of Three Ain't Bad), can't be all bad, huh?