Winning Big

One of our regular conservative commenters said something the other day that surprised me. He said, "I didn't support our going into Iraq when and how we did. But now that were there I want us to win and win big."

That got me thinking. That's pretty much the way I saw it and still do. I marched against the war. I wrote letters to my congressman. When I saw the bombs go off on CNN, I was shocked and awed. I felt that the US was a giant wooly mammoth that had been sniffing around the edges of a tar pit and in the end finally said, "The heck with it," and did a swan dive into the black. I took down my yard sign. There wasn't much sense in having a "No War" sign if we were already at war. I have friends in the Guard. A close relative was on the plane to Iraq. I wanted them, and all the troops to stay alive, to do what they had to do to win. The troops still need to do what the need to do to stay alive. I never liked MoveOn's quicksand ad. It is deeply unhealthy. The trooper never gets rescued. I didn't like the idea of my friends and relatives seeing that thing when they are over there.

I still want us to "win and win big." But I am faced with the same predicament that faces every one of us. In spite of an election that plucks at our hearts, inspite of a bad man getting served, the invasion of Iraq is still bad for the US. The gravity of the mistakes that were made, the incompetence of the people running this war and the acceleration of recent events won't allow us a clear victory. Instead of reducing the terror threat, the invasion raised it.

The new CIA Chief testified today that the Iraq Conflict Feeds International Terror Threat. You take away the flags, and soccer fields, and elections and there it is. The action we took to decrease the terrorist threat to our country has actually increased it.

Our physical saftey isn't the only casualty. Our national character has also suffered. We have been stained with an incredibly long list of scandals. Now it comes to our attention that we are beginning to use programs modeled after those we used first in vietnam and then in El Salvador - the use of death squads. No good can come of that. Meanwhile, the diversion of funds and resources has left us vulnerable at home.

It could still turn out ok. The wild card is the Iraqi people. They could perservere and form a secular, progressive republic that serves as a beacon of freedom to the rest of the region. That possiblity real. If it happens I will bow down to King George in all deference. I don't think there's a risk of peace breaking out though. I think Tom Englehart is more on point when he describes the new Iraq as flattened.

This all leaves me unsettled. Iran and Syria are aligned and events are accelerating rapidly, perhaps kicked on by King George's will to conquer. There is no evidence - save the Iraqi election - that the US can lay plans that won't go awry rather quickly. I do not pretend to know what to do. We are there. If we cannot engineer an outright victory, we must engineer our exit. In doing so, the troops need to follow orders. They need to do what the need to do in order to stay alive - follow orders, shoot first ask questions later if need be. There is abundant honor in their service. I do not wish the death of any innocent Iraqi.

All those deaths are on the head of the President and his deluded staff. Rummie said last summer - "It's quite clear to me that we do not have a coherent approach to this." Coherency eludes us still.