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Mark Steyn: U.S. Must Prove Its Staying Power (Iraq Test Of US Seriousness Alert Mark Steyn Classic)
Chicago Sun Times ^ | November 12, 2006 | Mark Steyn

Posted on 11/12/2006 2:42:23 AM PST by goldstategop

On the radio a couple of weeks ago, Hugh Hewitt suggested to me the terrorists might try to pull a Spain on the U.S. elections. You'll recall (though evidently many Americans don't) that in 2004 hundreds of commuters were slaughtered in multiple train bombings in Madrid. The Spaniards responded with a huge street demonstration of supposed solidarity with the dead, all teary passivity and signs saying "Basta!" -- "Enough!" By which they meant not "enough!" of these murderers but "enough!" of the government of Prime Minister Aznar, and of Bush and Blair, and troops in Iraq. A couple of days later, they voted in a socialist government, which immediately withdrew Spanish forces from the Middle East. A profitable couple of hours' work for the jihad. I said to Hugh I didn't think that would happen this time round. The enemy aren't a bunch of simpleton Pushtun yakherds, but relatively sophisticated at least in their understanding of us. We're all infidels, but not all infidels crack the same way. If they'd done a Spain -- blown up a bunch of subway cars in New York or vaporized the Empire State Building -- they'd have re-awoken the primal anger of September 2001. With another mound of corpses piled sky-high, the electorate would have stampeded into the Republican column and demanded the U.S. fly somewhere and bomb someone.

The jihad crowd know that. So instead they employed a craftier strategy. Their view of America is roughly that of the British historian Niall Ferguson -- that the Great Satan is the first superpower with ADHD. They reasoned that if you could subject Americans to the drip-drip-drip of remorseless water torture in the deserts of Mesopotamia -- a couple of deaths here, a market bombing there, cars burning, smoke over the city on the evening news, day after day after day, and ratcheted up a notch or two for the weeks before the election -- you could grind down enough of the electorate and persuade them to vote like Spaniards, without even realizing it. And it worked. You can rationalize what happened on Tuesday in the context of previous sixth-year elections -- 1986, 1958, 1938, yada yada -- but that's not how it was seen around the world, either in the chancelleries of Europe, where they're dancing conga lines, or in the caves of the Hindu Kush, where they would also be dancing conga lines if Mullah Omar hadn't made it a beheading offense. And, as if to confirm that Tuesday wasn't merely 1986 or 1938, the president responded to the results by firing the Cabinet officer most closely identified with the prosecution of the war and replacing him with a man associated with James Baker, Brent Scowcroft and the other "stability" fetishists of the unreal realpolitik crowd.

Whether or not Rumsfeld should have been tossed overboard long ago, he certainly shouldn't have been tossed on Wednesday morning. For one thing, it's a startlingly brazen confirmation of the politicization of the war, and a particularly unworthy one: It's difficult to conceive of any more public diminution of a noble cause than to make its leadership contingent on Lincoln Chafee's Senate seat. The president's firing of Rumsfeld was small and graceless.

Still, we are all Spaniards now. The incoming speaker says Iraq is not a war to be won but a problem to be solved. The incoming defense secretary belongs to a commission charged with doing just that. A nostalgic boomer columnist in the Boston Globe argues that honor requires the United States to "accept defeat," as it did in Vietnam. Didn't work out so swell for the natives, but to hell with them.

What does it mean when the world's hyperpower, responsible for 40 percent of the planet's military spending, decides that it cannot withstand a guerrilla war with historically low casualties against a ragbag of local insurgents and imported terrorists? You can call it "redeployment" or "exit strategy" or "peace with honor" but, by the time it's announced on al-Jazeera, you can pretty much bet that whatever official euphemism was agreed on back in Washington will have been lost in translation. Likewise, when it's announced on "Good Morning Pyongyang" and the Khartoum Network and, come to that, the BBC.

For the rest of the world, the Iraq war isn't about Iraq; it's about America, and American will. I'm told that deep in the bowels of the Pentagon there are strategists wargaming for the big showdown with China circa 2030/2040. Well, it's steady work, I guess. But, as things stand, by the time China's powerful enough to challenge the United States it won't need to. Meanwhile, the guys who are challenging us right now -- in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea and elsewhere -- are regarded by the American electorate like a reality show we're bored with. Sorry, we don't want to stick around to see if we win; we'd rather vote ourselves off the island.

Two weeks ago, you may remember, I reported on a meeting with the president, in which I'd asked him the following: "You say you need to be on the offense all the time and stay on the offense. Isn't the problem that the American people were solidly behind this when you went in and you toppled the Taliban, when you go in and you topple Saddam. But when it just seems to be a kind of thankless semi-colonial policing defensive operation with no end . . . I mean, where is the offense in this?"

On Tuesday, the national security vote evaporated, and, without it, what's left for the GOP? Congressional Republicans wound up running on the worst of all worlds -- big bloated porked-up entitlements-a-go-go government at home and a fainthearted tentative policing operation abroad. As it happens, my new book argues for the opposite: small lean efficient government at home and muscular assertiveness abroad. It does a superb job, if I do say so myself, of connecting war and foreign policy with the domestic issues. Of course, it doesn't have to be that superb if the GOP's incoherent inversion is the only alternative on offer.

As it is, we're in a very dark place right now. It has been a long time since America unambiguously won a war, and to choose to lose Iraq would be an act of such parochial self-indulgence that the American moment would not endure, and would not deserve to. Europe is becoming semi-Muslim, Third World basket-case states are going nuclear, and, for all that 40 percent of planetary military spending, America can't muster the will to take on pipsqueak enemies. We think we can just call off the game early, and go back home and watch TV.

It doesn't work like that. Whatever it started out as, Iraq is a test of American seriousness. And, if the Great Satan can't win in Vietnam or Iraq, where can it win? That's how China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Venezuela and a whole lot of others look at it. "These Colors Don't Run" is a fine T-shirt slogan, but in reality these colors have spent 40 years running from the jungles of Southeast Asia, the helicopters in the Persian desert, the streets of Mogadishu. ... To add the sands of Mesopotamia to the list will be an act of weakness from which America will never recover.


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 2006election; 911; alqaeda; americanmoment; americanwill; apesandpigs; appeasement; blackhawkdown; chicagosuntimes; congalines; cutandrun; darkplace; democrats; dhimmitude; donrumsfeld; eurarabia; euroweenies; gop; greatsatan; hughhewitt; infidels; iraqwar; islamofascism; jihad; kuffar; kuffr; marksteyn; nancypelosi; nationalsecurity; onemoremogadishu; parrtyof910; presidentbush; problemtobesolved; pullaspain; realworld; robertgates; sandsofmesopotamia; stayingpower; tohellwiththenatives; videogame; voteofftheisland; waronterror
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There are many good things in this Mark Steyn classic this morning but the line, "America can't muster the will to take on pipsqueak enemies. We think we can just call off the game early, and go back home and watch TV," stands out for me. The Democrats think life is a video game. The real world won't be as kind to America if we cannot muster the will to win in Iraq. Both America's allies and enemies are taking note of what will happen in the Sands Of Mesopotamia.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

1 posted on 11/12/2006 2:42:26 AM PST by goldstategop
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To: goldstategop

***They reasoned that if you could subject Americans to the drip-drip-drip of remorseless water torture in the deserts of Mesopotamia -- a couple of deaths here, a market bombing there, cars burning, smoke over the city on the evening news, day after day after day, and ratcheted up a notch or two for the weeks before the election -- you could grind down enough of the electorate and persuade them to vote like Spaniards, without even realizing it.***

Now now he's confusing Dem/MSM strategy with terrorist strategy. The terrorists have every intent of attacking America again they just haven't been able to pull it off.


2 posted on 11/12/2006 2:49:53 AM PST by kuma (Mark Sanford '08 http://www.petitiononline.com/msan2008/petition.html)
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To: kuma
The Democrats think if we stop fighting them over there, they'll leave us alone over here. The Party Of 9/10 has overlooked 9/11 - it happened long BEFORE we ever went into Iraq!

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

3 posted on 11/12/2006 2:52:22 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: kuma
Leftists, jihadists and Euroweenies are dancing in a conga line from the Hindu Kush, through Baghdad over to Madrid up to San Francisco. Let's sing, "kumbaya!"

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

4 posted on 11/12/2006 3:00:42 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: goldstategop
"Whether or not Rumsfeld should have been tossed overboard long ago, he certainly shouldn't have been tossed on Wednesday morning. For one thing, it's a startlingly brazen confirmation of the politicization of the war, and a particularly unworthy one: It's difficult to conceive of any more public diminution of a noble cause than to make its leadership contingent on Lincoln Chafee's Senate seat. The president's firing of Rumsfeld was small and graceless."

This certainly came off poorly.

5 posted on 11/12/2006 3:04:53 AM PST by beyond the sea ( Now that Pelosi Galore is in charge, it's never too late to start drinking.)
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To: goldstategop

Yes, that's why I forgive Steyn for getting the two confused. They all dance to the same tune "Death to America".


6 posted on 11/12/2006 3:05:01 AM PST by kuma (Mark Sanford '08 http://www.petitiononline.com/msan2008/petition.html)
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To: goldstategop

Just read George Washington's vision. That's about where we are at.

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/2444/gwvision.html


7 posted on 11/12/2006 3:05:18 AM PST by HisKingdomWillAbolishSinDeath (All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.)
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To: goldstategop

" For the rest of the world, the Iraq war isn't about Iraq; it's about America, and American will. I'm told that deep in the bowels of the Pentagon there are strategists wargaming for the big showdown with China circa 2030/2040. Well, it's steady work, I guess. But, as things stand, by the time China's powerful enough to challenge the United States it won't need to. "

That's the "money quote" in the article...

The United States is declining on an accelerating trend towards ineffectual Euro-Socialism...


8 posted on 11/12/2006 3:06:44 AM PST by Uncle Ike (Stop the "tyranny of the 'offended' " -- say what you mean and stand by it!)
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To: goldstategop

Isn't the problem that the American people were solidly behind this when you went in and you toppled the Taliban, when you go in and you topple Saddam. But when it just seems to be a kind of thankless semi-colonial policing defensive operation with no end . . . I mean, where is the offense in this?"


9 posted on 11/12/2006 3:07:52 AM PST by beyond the sea ( Now that Pelosi Galore is in charge, it's never too late to start drinking.)
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To: goldstategop
The Demoscaggs and their clown allies in the media are now beginning to understand the political trap they have put themselves in. After they take over in January, if they put undue pressure on President Bush, forcing him to withdraw the military, and if there is a "meltdown" into a civil war, and if the entire area becomes destabilized, they are going to get the blame. The reasoning is that the media and the Demohags forced President Bush to remove Rumsfeld and change course in Iraq, causing a foreign policy disaster and a miltary defeat, along with a huge spike in energy and a stock market crash. A lot can happen in the next two years, and the Dems know that this may not have been the best time for them to win total control of the Senate and the House. If a disaster unfolds, they know the American people will blame THEM! because the people are already generally suspicious of Democrat support for the military. And it goes double if they spend the next two years in endless subpoenas and circus style investigations.
10 posted on 11/12/2006 3:08:45 AM PST by Enterprise (Let's not enforce laws that are already on the books, let's just write new laws we won't enforce.)
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To: kuma
The majority of Americans think Iraq is a distant island like on "Survivor". We can just vote ourselves off before its played out. To the jihadists, it confirms for them we ARE the weak horse.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

11 posted on 11/12/2006 3:08:55 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: goldstategop

I love Steyn and thinks he's the best and I do not think he is wrong on most things. But (and you knew it was comign) I do not think the President fired Rumsfeld. I think Rumsfeld insisted on going in the face of what was coming now that the dems had been elected.


12 posted on 11/12/2006 3:09:04 AM PST by James Ewell Brown Stuart (Sorry, we don't want to stick around to see if we win; we'd rather vote ourselves off the island.)
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To: leadpenny; TomasUSMC; GraniteStateConservative

ping


13 posted on 11/12/2006 3:09:19 AM PST by Kozak (Anti Shahada: " There is no God named Allah, and Muhammed is his False Prophet")
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To: goldstategop
The Democrats think if we stop fighting them over there, they'll leave us alone over here.

It's not just the DBM/dems, it's also the mood of the country now. Selfish and clueless! If the good people of America do not understand by now this is a spiritual war, a war we must win or we die, our way of life will cease to exist and being a selfish people we couldn't give a tinker's damn about anyone else, especially bringing democracy to the middle east. Like the Spainards, we've just shown who we really are with this election, clueless!

14 posted on 11/12/2006 3:10:04 AM PST by sirchtruth (No one has the RIGHT not to be offended...)
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To: goldstategop
"These Colors Don't Run"

These colors ran the past Tuesday in the form of emotional voters, the continual old media anti-American bias, and just genuinely soft, poorly-informed citizens.

Bad days ahead.

15 posted on 11/12/2006 3:12:51 AM PST by beyond the sea ( Now that Pelosi Galore is in charge, it's never too late to start drinking.)
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To: beyond the sea
My take is Americans would STILL be solidly behind Iraq if the President was going to do whatever it takes to win. But I beg to differ with Mark here: if all we're going to be doing is engage in a long drawn out colonial policing operation, then the Democrats are right: its time to leave. If the President won't put enough boots on the ground to win, its time to pull up stakes and go home. America is not suited to be an imperial overlord and we don't want the thankless role of one.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

16 posted on 11/12/2006 3:12:53 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: goldstategop

"Iraq is a test of American seriousness"

Bzzt-game over--the American people had their say and the jihadists win.


17 posted on 11/12/2006 3:17:06 AM PST by freeangel ( (free speech is only good until someone else doesn't like what you say))
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To: goldstategop
Doing whatever it takes to win...

That is a loaded statement that needs to be explained. I do not think you can just say that and drive on by.

As you are aware, we can fight the war two ways. We can fight a limited war, in a political strait jacket that is designed to do the following: 1) Topple Saddam from power. 2) Not alienate a very easily humiliated and alienatable people. 3) Set up an Iraqi government as a model for other governments in the region that the people can see and hopefully achieve for themselves through bloodless revolution. 4) Teach them to defend themselves against not only the insurgents that have come, but from the sectarianism that has always been a part of Iraq due to the Shi'ite majority and the Sunni sense of self-importance, and the Kurdish dynamic. 5) To prove ourselves the friends of governments who have supported us like Qatar and Bahrain, Jordan, and U.A.E.

OR...

We can forget the five objectives and declare total war on the region, fight friend and foe alike and get after them like Grant did the South and Eisenhower did the Nazis and McArthur did the Japanese.

Those are your options.

We are not involved in a long drawn out colonial policing operation. What is happening now is necessary to meet those five objectives.

Again...win what? We are winning... the five objectives are being met. I didn't know there was a time table to victory. No army, no matter how great, can meet a predetermined time table so that folks back home can stop being impatient. It's war, man...and we are winning.

18 posted on 11/12/2006 3:25:02 AM PST by James Ewell Brown Stuart (Sorry, we don't want to stick around to see if we win; we'd rather vote ourselves off the island.)
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To: sirchtruth
Like the Spainards, we've just shown who we really are with this election, clueless!

Agreed. And, if I may say, let's not forget the influence of the publik skulz and universities over the past 40 or so years. The non-judgmentalism, diversity training, anti-American history classes, and genuine socialism being taught to the young has churned out millions of fools each year. Now those propagandized fools are voting.

And it will get nothing but worse.

****

Charlotte Iserbyte: The Deliberate Dumbing-Down of America.

19 posted on 11/12/2006 3:27:24 AM PST by beyond the sea ( Now that Pelosi Galore is in charge, it's never too late to start drinking.)
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To: goldstategop
My take is Americans would STILL be solidly behind Iraq if the President was going to do whatever it takes to win. But I beg to differ with Mark here

I think Mark agrees with you when he writes mockingly, "But when it just seems to be a kind of thankless semi-colonial policing defensive operation with no end . . . I mean, where is the offense in this?""

20 posted on 11/12/2006 3:30:08 AM PST by beyond the sea ( Now that Pelosi Galore is in charge, it's never too late to start drinking.)
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