the policy debates alone

[meliss]

Hi, I am not sure about which semantic nuance the word "alone" impleis here. Does it mean that nothing more is needed, just policy debates are enough to obscure the idealism?
"As had been the case in 2001– 2002, the policy debates alone obscure the idealism of the US intervention. Obama and his team favored a self- described “realist” foreign policy, stripped of the moralistic rhetoric of Bush that had justified wars and destruction."

Source: The American War in Afghanistan by Carter Malkasian

 

[Barque]

At first glance it sounds that way--that the policy debates by themselves obscured the idealism. Whether there were other things that obscured them or not, the debates were enough to obscure it.

But it might also mean that only the policy debates (and nothing else) obscured the idealism.

 

[SoothingDave]

I think he's saying that if you only look at the policy debates, the idealism is obscured. The "alone" is describing what you are looking at. Not that the debates are the only thing obscuring.

 

[Tdol]

As Obama is said to have favoured realism without the moral justifications, I'd imagine they were the only debates or discussions.