Posted on 01/21/2007 7:40:50 PM PST by LazarusMan
don't think you can be a success at anything if you think about losing... — Ted Kennedy
Democrats – unable to reconcile their strategic positions on Iraq with political realities in the US – have so far failed to reach a consensus within their own party on the path forward. But they have been testing the waters, and the Party seems to be slowly moving toward a plan. Unfortunately, they’re planning to fail.
The idea that we’re going to win this war is an idea that unfortunately is just plain wrong” – Howard Dean Ironically, Howard Dean, Representative Murtha and others are reaching the conclusion that the Iraq war is “unwinnable” just weeks away from Iraq’s third nation-wide election -- including the Constitutional referendum – which is widely expected to be even more successful than the previous two. Specifically, widespread Sunni participation is expected in the December 15th elections, fulfilling a key component of the Bush administration’s Iraq Strategy:
Elections in December will produce elected Sunni leaders who can represent their community with legitimate authority. […] Inclusive institutions that offer power-sharing mechanisms and minority protections will demonstrate to disaffected Sunnis that they have influence and the ability to protect their interests in a democratic Iraq. So, with the Iraqis going to the polls for the third time; with the primary source of the insurgency now seeking to become part of the political process; with the Iraqi security forces being trained; and with the Iraqi economy growing, why the pessimism among critics of the Iraq war?
The disconnect is simple: the Democratic base has been emotionally invested in the idea that the Iraq war was a mistake and a failure from the very beginning. They've believed that from the very start, and nothing that happens will shake that belief.
Elections? In 2004, John Kerry said Iraq “can't have an election right now”, and approvingly cited Jordan’s King Abdullah’s claim that “you can't hold elections in Iraq with the chaos that's going on today.” Shortly thereafter, Iraq held successful elections.
Training an Iraqi security force? Admittedly, the Bush administration has been all too willing to put out inflated numbers of trained Iraqi security forces, and the Democrats have been correct to repeatedly call them on it. But, while the administration has been fibbing and Democrats complaining, our soldiers in Iraq have been training Iraqis. General Barry McCaffrey – a frequent critic of the Iraq war – took a trip to Iraq to evaluate conditions for CENTCOM and reported back that…
The Iraqi Security Forces are now a real and hugely significant factor. […] By next summer—250,000 Iraqi troops and 10 division HQS will be the dominant security factor in Iraq. He also observed that one of our foremost vulnerabilities was a “premature drawdown of U.S. ground forces driven by dwindling U.S. domestic political support”. On the other hand, he said, “if we retain the support of the American people we can achieve our objectives of creating a law-based Iraqi state which will be an influencing example on the entire region.”
And yet, despite positive trends and successful elections, the pessimism persists. That's unfortunate. Certainly, there is much that can still go wrong. The Sunnis could refuse to give another inch, forcing a civil war; the Shi'ites could turn the Iraqi security forces into permanent de facto Shi'ite army to oppress their enemies; the Kurds could press for secession, bringing the federalism issue to a violent head.
All of that could still happen, but that is precisely what the political process is about: moderating radical ambitions. And if the Sunnis refuse to participate in a pluralistic system? Then, regrettably, there will be a confrontation. But sectarian oppression is exactly what Iraq has had for decades. Sectarian confrontation is precisely what would have happened had...
...the Clinton administration's Iraq Liberation Act been successful in its goal to "support efforts to remove the regime headed by Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq and to promote the emergence of a democratic government to replace that regime." Or had... ...Al Gore pursued his stated desire "to go further", to "give robust support to the groups that are trying to overthrow Saddam Hussein". Both policies, if successful, would have led to exactly the same sectarian tension Iraq has today; the only difference being that, under the Democratic policies, the Sunnis would have had the apparatus of the Saddam regime on their side, and a political resolution would have been unthinkable. Such a confrontation would be regrettable—a clear lowering of the bar--but we ought not let critics of the Iraq war pretend that Iraq civil war is an intolerable outcome – it is the very path Democrats advocated prior to 2001.
Ultimately, if the Sunnis are determined to live by the sword, the only choices available to the US and to pro-democracy Iraqis are to surrender....or to meet them head-on—and to make them die by the sword. Our strategic objectives can be realized that way, too.
Our goal in Iraq now is to help ensure that the political process provides an outcome consistent with our strategic objective: a non-Islamist, democratic, Mid-East ally in the War on Terror. That is an eminently achievable outcome.
Unless, of course, we preemptively declare defeat; unless, like Howard Dean, we decide we can't win. That’s not a plan – it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.
no..........lose and blame it on Bush.
Some things never change.
bttt
isn't it scarey that the democrats want the usa to lose so make bush look bad??? it makes you wonder if there isn't anything they would do to win elections....
Actually the plan is to lose in the most humiliating way possible. They will not settle for anything less.
And it goes without saying that if a Democrat was currently President, those very same dhimmocrats would be telling us how they'd be pulling out all the stops to win.
Plagiarist Plugs Biden: Surrender Monkey.
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