Mark Steyn: Don't Let Iraq's Tempest in a Teacup Rattle You

The Chicago Sun-Times ^ | April 11, 2004 | Mark Steyn

[quidnunc]

The coalition approach to Iraq was summed up a year ago by a British colonel. Explaining how they were trying to secure Basra without blowing up buildings and causing a lot of death and destruction, he said, ''We don't want to go in and rattle all their teacups.''

The avoidance of teacup-rattling remains a priority. Last week in Fallujah, American troops had rockets fired at them from a mosque. So they fired back, but with the state-of-the-art laser-guided weaponry that kills the insurgents but leaves the mosque virtually untouched. I'd have been quite happy to see it blown up with the old-school non-laser imprecise munitions. But leveling mosques is felt to be insensitive, so on we go, avoiding the rattling of teacups, whether Sunni or Shiite.

The problem with this deference to the locals is that, partly in consequence, most of the folks who are getting rattled are on our side.

So how bad are things in Iraq?

Answer: not very. Fallujah is not the new Mogadishu, Muqtaba al-Sadr is not the new Ayatollah Khomeini and, despite what Ted Kennedy says, Iraq is not ''George Bush's Vietnam.'' Or even George Bush's Chappaquiddick.

Here's a good rule of thumb: The Pentagon's demonstrated in two wars now that it's got beyond Vietnam. If a politician or pundit can't, pay him no further heed. If Sen. Kennedy wants to give rhetorical aid and comfort to the enemy, he could at least be less lazy about it.

Now here's the more important question: Are the Iraqi people on the American side?

Answer: No.

-snip-

[Lando Lincoln]

ping

Lando

[68skylark]

If Sen. Kennedy wants to give rhetorical aid and comfort to the enemy, he could at least be less lazy about it.

Good line.

[Dark Glasses and Corncob Pipe]

"But I've had worse welcomes in Berkeley, so I chewed on, and, washed down with a pitcher of coliform bacteria, it wasn't bad."

Steyn's stein!

[aculeus]

Bump.

[Anti-Bubba182]

"..Here's a good rule of thumb: The Pentagon's demonstrated in two wars now that it's got beyond Vietnam. If a politician or pundit can't, pay him no further heed. If Sen. Kennedy wants to give rhetorical aid and comfort to the enemy, he could at least be less lazy about it..."

That is a good working theory. It also applies to the goofball net publications, pay them no heed:

Debka Recent Spew

[BlueAngel]

Great article that puts Iraq in prospective. Glad to see this in the Chicago Sun-Times.

I especially like Steyn mentioning Ted Kennedy's Chappaquiddick. Good dig!

[Dark Glasses and Corncob Pipe]

"The best way to make plain you're the winning side is to crush the other guys -- and rattle their teacups so loudly even CNN can't paint it as a setback."

I hope we are doing just that.

[don-o]

More:

That's the point to remember: The Iraqi people don't want to be on the American side, only on the winning side. Right now, those two positions happen to coincide; 99.99 percent of Iraqi Shiites aren't involved in the troubles of the last week.

This guy Sadr is a junior-league blowhard. ''If they come for our leader,'' says one of his commanders, ''they will ignite all of Iraq." No, they won't. The vast majority of Iraq will remain un-ignited.

[tet68]

"...The best way to make plain you're the winning side is to crush the other guys -- and rattle their teacups so loudly even CNN can't paint it as a setback."

Steyn Bump.

[dep]

brilliant, as always. someday i'll disagree with steyn about something, but it hasn't happened yet, to my knowledge. he's sort of christopher hitchens without the curled-pinky pretension.

[claudiustg]

The Dems will be sorry for trotting out the defeatist garbage prematurely.

[VadeRetro]

Yes. Kick butt, take names. This is a Tet Offensive. Another week of this and they won't be able to do another thing for a year. If it wins for them, it will only be in the US press.

[VRW Conspirator]

...There are 300,000 people in that city [Fallujah]. A few score are depraved enough to cheer on the killers of four brave men; 299,900 of the town's population were either disapproving or indifferent.

And in the Arab world, the indifferent are the biggest demographic... The "dirty" little secret of the Arab world.

[Rocko]

The Iraqis will go with the winning side. And, though the Americans had a bad week last week, the insurgents had a worse one, losing as many men in seven days as U.S. forces did in the last year. The best way to make plain you're the winning side is to crush the other guys -- and rattle their teacups so loudly even CNN can't paint it as a setback.

[Sabatier]

Steyn writes: "And in Iraq, the non-rattling of the teacups is received by the locals not as cultural respect from Bush and Blair but as weakness." Amend that to, "And in the Arabic world..."
Which is why the trembling media is the enemy's friend.

[Savage Beast]

As usual, Mark radiates wise words. Among the most sage:

"The Iraqi people don't want to be on the American side, only on the winning side."

Obviously:

"The best way to make plain you're the winning side is to crush the other guys"

Also obviously:

"Rattling teacups gets you a bad press from CNN and the BBC. But they give you a bad press anyway."

[Blood of Tyrants]

Rattle teacups my eye. I say we smash the whole damned cupboard.

[McGavin999]

Why didn't they kill me? Because, as Osama gloated after 9/11, when people see a strong horse and a weak horse, they go with the strong horse.

This is the point to remember. We have to stop them from using our civilization against us.

[Smartass]

The Dems, and U.S. Press, are praying for a win for them!
The key to Iraq, is steer the course, and reelect Bush.
By doing so, will send the vermin and slime back under
their rocks ... where they belong.