Return of the Nixon Doctrine

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Outsourcing has created problems elsewhere as well. Some of America's NATO partners won't send their troops to Afghanistan's dangerous south. On North Korea, China has put enough pressure on Pyongyang to make it resume talks on its nuclear program but not nearly enough to make those talks go anywhere. Finally, while the Bush Administration cheered on Israel last summer as it destroyed Hizballah encampments from the air, the bombing campaign virtually destroyed Lebanon's pro-Western government as well--wrecking what was once a crown jewel in Bush's campaign for Middle East democracy.

The original Nixon Doctrine didn't turn out that well either. When American troops left, South Vietnam crumbled. The Shah of Iran, America's bulwark against Soviet meddling in the Persian Gulf, used the threat of communist subversion to establish a dictatorship. A few years later, the ayatullahs were in power.

In the short run, we may have little choice but to outsource parts of our foreign policy. But in the longer term, America will pay dearly for its inability to lead. The return of the Nixon Doctrine is one of the hidden costs of the war in Iraq. And it is another reason that, unless Iraq's leaders quickly forge a political compact across sectarian lines, America must leave. When that happens, U.S. policymakers will be able to scan the globe anew, with more time and resources at their command. Then the U.S. can abandon the Nixon Doctrine once and for all.

Beinart is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations