Consequences, and truth

Help the people who want out to get out, then follow them out the door. I don't appreciate the idea that we have to be the referee and stand between two groups that want to kill each other. If we are the paternalistic daddy-figure of the world, daddy doesn't stand there and physically restrain the kids from beating the crap out of each other if they can't play nice. He sends them to separate rooms.

The predictable consequences have already begun apart from Iraq. Commenters favoring withdrawal seem not to notice the dramatic uptick in suicide bombing and IEDs in Afghanistan in the past three months. That's a logical change in Taliban/AQ strategy: they are seeing that it works--the Harrys and Nancys and Rods of American public opinion can be spooked into quitting a fight.

Meanwhile, although Rod prays that the sleeping cherubs under his roof never know war when they come of age (although his actions are, in my opinion, helping ensure that they will), we will not have to wait that long. Pakistan is slipping to AQ as we speak, with Musharref hanging on by his fingernails. And Pakistan does have nukes, so no need to throw "they lied about the WMDs" or "Bush is plotting to attack Iran for political gain" accusations around. Zawahiri & Co. with the bomb. This isn't something that we face in a "few years", or in the early Obama Administration. Try "in a month or so".

I spent 15 months in Iraq, so I know what kind of commitment is being asked of soldiers, marines, sailors, airmen, and their families. They want to win. They think they can. They want the same kind of commitment to be asked of the citizens at home. Support the surge. Fund it and man it 110% Call it a cynical use of terminology by war supporters, but it is true nonetheless: Iraq is the central front, and if it is given up as lost...we will be in retreat in every other place on earth.

"Call it a cynical use of terminology by war supporters, but it is true nonetheless: Iraq is the central front"

I didn't buy it in 2003, I don't buy it now.

To paraphrase the late Richard J Daley, the coalition forces aren't there to create disorder, they are there to preserve disorder.

Kim M

"When our most basic assumptions are false, we are not motivated to change them, but instead to continue down the path we're on in order to justify having taken that path in the first place."

Anyone who uses the phrase "surrender lobby" just deserves a punch in the nose.

Oh good grief, it's painful to run the clock back and see what jewels guys like Jacoby produced in the past, but let's try and gauge his accuracy on Iraq.

"WMD Headlines Miss the Real Story
by Jeff Jacoby (October 25, 2003)

"But Kay's report was only one summary of WMD findings in Iraq to be released in Washington last week. At about the same time that Kay was on Capitol Hill, an international organization called the Iraq Survey Group, or ISG, was disclosing what its highly-regarded scientists -- many of them former UN inspectors -- had discovered about Saddam's chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons programs. Far from undermining the administration's rationale for war, many of the ISG's findings strengthened it -- decisively."

Ahhh, that decisively strengthened rationale for war.

"Dealing with Terror Regimes
"by Jeff Jacoby (February 19, 2003)

"It will not end with Iraq. The toppling of Saddam Hussein will make the Middle East a better place, free a nation that has suffered unspeakable cruelty, and shame the illiberal "peace movement" that even now counsels appeasement and willful blindness in the face of evil. Iraq should have been liberated during the first Gulf War; it cannot happen soon enough. "

How's that "better place" going these days?

Having been wrong about the war is forgivable. A lot of people were.

Still being not just wrong but so viciously so reveals a decisive lack of self-awareness.

Nothing against your friend, Mr. Dreher. I'm sure he's a great dinner companion.

I believe that the Bush strategy forced them to miss an golden opportunity: when the Sunnis announced their boycott of the elections, Bush should have publicly told them the simple truth: if you think you have the luxury of playing around, then just wait until a few days after the US pulls out and watch your people being massacred by revenge-minded Shiites. You had it good for decades as Hussein's cronies. You are being offered a proportional role in a pluralistic government. Don't for a moment think you can regain past glory by playing a political game that you have no chance of winning.

The thing about the bloodbath gloom and doom sayers makes me laugh derisively while crying: WTF is happening there right now, and why is that "better"?