lawrence kaplan on the iraq war

In 2003, Lawrence Kaplan, a leading neoconservative, helped deliver arguments that justified the invasion of Iraq. Afterwards, he traveled repeatedly to the war zone over the course of two years. It changed his view: "You can't help but be much more cautious with the ideas you put on the table," he tells SPIEGEL ONLINE in an interview.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Was the increase in US troops at the start of 2007 also partially responsible for the progress you describe?

Kaplan: This is the subject of fierce debate in the US -- because to ascribe progress to the "surge" means to say that George W. Bush did something right. I think it is impossible to disentangle the progress that comes from the tribes switching sides, from the new American strategy, from the fact that Shiite radical Muqtada al-Sadr has stood down and the surge. My sense is that the influx of 30,000 new American troops holds the least explanatory power. Most important were the tribes. And their switching sides predates the surge.

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