Posted on 08/19/2005 9:31:26 AM PDT by oldtimer2
I TIPPED
August 19th, 2005
Today, I tipped.
Today I’ve reached my personal tipping point regarding America’s efforts in Iraq. We must either dramatically increase the size and aggressiveness of our presence in Iraq, or. . . get the hell out. I say this not as one who has ever opposed the very notion of going into Saddam’s personal, nationwide torture pit. No, I’ve always thought we had no choice but to rid the world of him. But in decapitating the Iraqi regime and executing the vile progeny of its leader, Uday and Qusay, we have unleashed forces even more evil and find ourselves fighting a snake with a thousand heads. Why did this happen? Was it inevitable? Was our noble effort doomed from the start? Well, yes and no.
Not doomed in the sense that it was a mission impossible – if one properly defines the mission. Thinking that we could be midwife to the birthing of a constitutional democracy in a matter of only thirty months or so was probably a bit of a stretch. Underlying that plan was a not-so-hidden assumption that the three main ethnic and religious groups that comprise the Iraqi population – the Shia, the Sunni and the Kurds – would somehow be willing to set their differences and mistrusts aside while forging a new nationalistic union from dissimilar metals. How to alloy those who’ve never been allies does seem an intractable dilemma.
We beat Japan and Germany over 60 years ago. Utterly whipped them. Made them sign surrender documents. We still have lots of troops in Japan and Germany. What's happening in Iraq is competely normal.
Of course, President Bush doesn't believe an authoritarian Iraq is the best way to achieve that end. Support of such regimes is a Cold War legacy.
I am still on board with Bush. But it's getting harder and harder to justify not going "George S. Patton" on a couple of cities.
I don't watch any news but Fox. Don't tell me "It's the media's fault." This is starting to feel more like a Vietnam than a WW2. It feels like we are holding back, wether we are or not is really beside the point. In America perception IS reality.
Fallujah? Should have been a smoking hole in the ground.
No, we should only get into wars that we're prepared both materially and politically to overwhelmingly defeat the enemy at all costs. We're being so careful in Iraq not to offend anyone that it is prolonging the war there, emboldening the terrorists, and getting our guys killed.
Sounds a lot like what was being written in 1778.
Forgot to add: The only difference is that the press wasn't so willing and able to undermine our efforts after World War II. They chose not to magnify problems and ignore good news as they do now.
"Kick butt and WIN-not play political pattycake"
I could not agree more.
Or 1812, or 1917, or 1943...
You are almost three years too late on this issue. This Freeper opposed the war from Day One because he knew people like you would eventually "tip."
Sincerely,
Alberta's Child
For the life of me, I can't figure out what relevance that eloquent quote has to a stupid nation-building exercise in a Third World sh!t-hole.
Try reading reporting about how it is really going instead:
http://michaelyon.blogspot.com/
We don't run from a fight. Ever. Never show weakness in the eyes of the enemy. We can and will win this war.
And they have to be over in time for Sports Center. I hope the enemy will cooperate.
al qaeda has called Iraq their battleground against the Jewish, secular, and Christian enemy! We leave before we win, we fight them here on our shores. Anyone NOT seeing this is either delusional, or running for office a dim-O-Rat!
LLS
The United States has to fight terrorists. The terrorists are in Iraq. Our military, along with coalition partners and decent Iraqis, is fighting them. That fight isn't going to end until the terrorists leave Iraq or they are all killed.
Armchair generals are tiresome. This guy should grow some stars on his shoulders, get appointed and confirmed by the Senate, or shut up. He is not the person who should be setting military strategy any more than are the left-wing crackpots.
BTW, Saddam Hussein was a terrorist, now he's a prisoner. When the Iraqis get through with him, he'll be dead.
Welcome to Free Republic.
A Democratic Iraq fullfils the objective of the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 which Sens. Kerry and Kennedy both voted for.
"I guess we should only get into wars that are easy, and have a preordained, scripted outcome. Sometimes, hard work is exactly that."
And sometimes hard work is made harder by trying to it in a way that doesn't ruffle the feathers of you critics too badly.
I think the point was either commit to doing it wholesale (e.g. carpet bombing, etc..) or don't do it at all.
"We still have lots of troops in Japan and Germany. What's happening in Iraq is competely normal"
Really? So the Japs and Germans we're car bombing both civilians and our troops after the war?
If we quit in Iraq, will Zarqawi, Bin Laden, and Al Qeada quit? Not hardly! They will only be encouraged to attack us with more vigor and intensity.
We did not give up in WWII even though it took nearly two years to turn the tide. We did not give up after over 45 years of Cold War with the Soviet Union when they finally imploded. We are in a world war. Our enemy, the Islamofascists, who are seeking to make the world safe for an Islamic Theocracy.
Osama bin-Laden set the peace terms for this conflict in his Letter to America two years ago; "stop supporting Israel, get out of our lands, do not oppose us, and convert to Islam .... If you fail to respond to all these conditions, then prepare for fight with the Islamic Nation; the Nation of Martyrdom, the Nation that desires death more than you desire life."
Jihadists from all over the globe are flocking to Iraq to defeat us. We've lost over 1800 troops in two years. The Jihadists are willing to lose all to win. If they win in Iraq, they know they can win everywhere. If they lose, they know their dream of an Islamic millennium is over.
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