Like I said, I am still evaluating his words/position.. it appears to me that he is NOT sending a very strong message to our ENEMY .. THAT is THE point.. The only way to defeat this enemy is to let them know that we are in this for as long as THEY decide to fight.. PERIOD.. anything short of that is CUT/RUN in my book.. 100% IN THE FIGHT PERIOD... NON-NEGOTIABLE pre-requisite to be Commander in Chief in my book.. If I misunderstood Fred’s position on this, I will apologize.. but it seems to be that he is NOT in it to win it.. that is a HUGE problem.. tell me where I am wrong... Please
You are wrong.
Does that help?
Seriously, reread it and then look at everything else Thompson has said about the WOT.
It does not give aid to the enemy to say that mistakes were made in execution, indeed it may well scare the crap out of them that someone wants to correct that, could end up getting more of them killed, something we are failing at IMHO. I know some of my buddies coming back sure would have like to have a little more “flexibility” in day to day operations.
He states in this article a very simple and elegant goal, go about life without being blown up. Al Qaeda does the blowing up so if the goal is no more blowing up, they must be gone. Sounds like a win to me. Then we can come home or move on to the next garden spot with nut jobs.
FWIW I am of the opinion that a lot of folks don’t see us with anything but a small base at most in country there long term. The Iraqis are a proud and nationalistic people and have stated they want us gone once we finish up. It’s a fair deal since we will of course still have a little “pull” there and we have resources in the region anyways.
Thompson is exactly right that this will not be a desirable development. He is also right that nobody in a position of resposiblility, or who might actually be in a position of responsibility, can admit the ugly truth. Duncan Hunter enjoys the freedom of insignificance. He can talk about staying in Iraq because he’s never going to be President and everyone knows it including Duncan Hunter.
To admit that we will have a major presence in Iraq when everyone now participating in this forum is long dead would be politically and diplomatically disastrous. Instead of announcing a longterm deployment we will boil the frog. Our withdrawal will be slow and incomplete. The years will drag on until both the American public and the Iraqis are accustomed to our presence there. The American occupation of Iraq will go from unthinkable to natural.
Nothing in what Fred said indicates a lack of commitment to our Arab and Persian War. It only shows that he understands the state of play much better than those who are falling all over themselves to demonstrate their naivete by criticizing him.