From a friend that did 2 tours in Iraq. He says some of the same things.
The fundamental question is "Do we let evil prevail?" If we leave, before the job is done--we let evil win. Have we made mistakes? Absolutely, but almost without exception the mistakes are a result of us not anticipating the level of evil. How do you account for people that will strap on a bomb and walk into the Green Zone Cafe and blow themselves up? You don't at first--not until you see and understand the depth of the depravity--then you adjust. And you keep adjusting until evil is defeated or at least contained. My fear is we are going to leave Iraq before the job is done, that's where the press is on this thing. They act like if we leave things return to how they were. That is not the alternative. However the future Iraq doesn't concern me--our lack of National will does. If we stay the course, Iraq will emerge as a better place. If we leave too soon the autrocities that will occur will take their place in the history books next to Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot and the Taliban.
We are not the bad guys in Iraq but to listen to the press and the far left you wouldn't know it. They give the murderers in Iraq the same moral equivalency as our soldiers and Marines. That is crazy. But evil prevails by people pretending it doesn't exist. To equate how Abu Ghraib prison was run by the Coalition to how it was run by Saddam is ridiculous. Dog collars vs. wood chippers? Individual depravity vs. State sanctioned torture? Perpetrators arrested vs lionized? That is the difference between good and evil but the press (and the far left) won't recognize it. They give it a moral equivalency. Very frustrating. However...
The formula to win in Iraq is 1) kill or imprison the bad guys; 2) show the opportunists (fence sitters) there is a bettter way by our actions; 3) and protect the innocent. We've done a good job of number 1 (military); we are getting better at #2 with reconstruction (PCO, State Department) but we are not getting it done with #3 (? Iraqi police?). When I was part of the invasion force the whole idea was we would build Iraq similar to the CCC of the 1930's in the U.S. Big public works projects that would be heavy in labor and employee lots of locals. $18B would be seed money with the Iraqi's funding the rest with oil revenues. There was no discussion or planning for insurgency. We obviously did not adjust fast enough when the bad guys started to "vote" on the future they wanted. The solution is not to quit, the solution is to recognize we need to be tenacious and it costs what it costs.
Part of the problem was/is you had the guys that were good at #1 trying to run #2. Nobody was doing #3 except to "train local police". Doing 1, 2 & 3 well is what the National discussion should be. Not, how fast can we leave.
Good letter but I don't think bringing in the NYPD is going to pacify Baghdad.
"Part of the problem was/is you had the guys that were good at #1 trying to run #2. Nobody was doing #3 except to "train local police". Doing 1, 2 & 3 well is what the National discussion should be. Not, how fast can we leave."
How many dems have their fingers in defense appropriations. This strategy makes it very profitable. Everytime they scream about (fill in the blank) I look them right in the eye, because they're covering something up. All the screaming about Haliburton makes me wonder. Especially when one realizes how murtha's fat piggies are deep in the pork barrel.
"mistakes are a result of us not anticipating the level of evil"
this is not a question of "evil"
The US is fighting Iran in Iraq. Iran has declared war on the US in Iraq. Deal with it and make Iran pay.
If they will not it is a complete waste of time and humans to fight the "insurgency", which will continue another 20 years.