As someone who supported the war in Iraq, I want America to win, not because I want to be on the winning side if an academic argument or simply to root for the home team, it comes down to simple fact that if we loose in Iraq, the consequences will be swift, horrible and deadly on a scale that will make the losses we have suffered so far seem like a bad month in the war to come.
That war will be right here, on our soil. In our schools, in our malls, in our stadiums, and in our public squares. If we loose this war by retreating, that is the only way the US military can be defeated, we will have proven Osama Bin Laden right when he asserts that America is a paper tiger that can be sent home with its tail between its' legs after a few thousand deaths.
I understand that every life we loose in the war against Islamic terrorists is tragic. Every name they announce on the nightly news means some family will not be having their loved one come home. I mourn for those who have lost someone and I actually pray for those who are fighting. Now that I have made myself clear on what I believe we will be faced with if we retreat, just how do we win in Iraq and in the broader war?
I don't know. I will throw out some ideas I agree with, but in the end, if this was an easy fix, some one much smarter that I am would have figured it out by now.
What about this surge? Are twenty thousand new troops going to make a difference? Maybe. The MSM and the retreat lobby say that it's too little too late, but lets look a little deeper.
How many combat troops are patrolling Baghdad? I couldn't find an exact figure, but it seems to be between 8 to 12 thousand infantry types, folks with M16s, not support troops, who are working side by side with the IA. If the majority of the surge goes to Baghdad as boots on the street patrolling house to house and shaking down the neighborhoods for bad guys, it may work. Maybe.
Success will only come if the Maliki government gets out of way with regard to the rules of engagement. If the Iraqis want our help to keep them safe inside the green zone then we must be able to go after who ever is causing the escalation of sectarian violence in Baghdad. If it's his Shiia buddies getting some payback for the bombing of the Golden Dome, one of the most holy sites for the Shiites, or they are Iranian Shiites who are supplying the Shiia militia with IEDs to kill Americans, the gloves have to come off. No one can be off the table. Muqtada al-Sadr and his militia are going to have to put down their AKs, pick up a shovel, and get to work rebuilding Iraq or we will crush them. The Sunnis who once backed the al Qaida insurgents are now rethinking their alliances.
Neither side will put down their AKs if they think America is going to pull out in 18 months. If that belief is allowed to be the majority opinion inside Iraq, progress will be impossible. If all sides believe we are leaving, they will go into overdrive carving up Iraq for themselves and their backers in Iran and Syria.
The non binding resolution proposed by democrats and a handful of republicans is exactly what we don't need. How is telling the world that the American congress does not want to send the troops the military says it needs to win in Iraq going to help us win? The plain fact is that to most of the left, the war is already lost in their minds. From the first day we went into Iraq, they were looking for a way to loose so they could point their finger at George Bush and tell him, he was wrong, the war was wrong, ect. Can we grow up now? If you don't want a troop surge, tell the American people what your plan is to win in Iraq. They don't have one. They never have, they never will.
I take that back, Joe Biden has a plan from a think tank in Washington that he likes to sell as his own, it calls for dividing up Iraq into three separate nations. Hey at least it's a plan. That is more than I hear from Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid or Jack Murtha. If anyone can explain how redeploying our troops to Okinawa is going to win the war in Iraq, I am all ears.
What about the UN? Can they help? I don't know, I am not sure that we need any blue helmets selling UN aid to the highest bidder or trading it for sexual favors to children will be of much use in winning the war. The UN has a new General Secretary, maybe he wants the UN to become relevant again in the world. Maybe he wants to wipe away the shame of Rwanda. If the UN could start small in southern Iraq, maybe Basra, its pretty quiet down there, they could get their feet wet without having to do any hard fighting for a year, then they could start to move north into the hotter areas of Iraq. One truck bomb was all it took to send them packing from Iraq the first time, I am sure it was a tragic time for the UN, but what part of peacekeeping didn't they understand?
The name is a little misleading, if there is peace, you don' tneed much to keep it going. The cub scouts could keep a peace. Their mission is more of peace making. Get between the sides and try to negotiate a cease fire and when you find anyone targeting and slaughtering innocent civilians, you shoot them. If that is not the job description than what the hell are we paying the UN to do? Write reports? Badmouth the US? Run a corrupt oil for food scandal that was so large, we will never find out how many billions in aid went to Saddam and his prostitutes who received kickbacks all the while bemoaning the US.
I just don't see the UN helping out. They could if they were serious, but like the left, the UN is just as invested in seeing the US fail because of their hatred for Bush that they will never do anything substantiative to help win the war.
So where does that leave us? I'm afraid the media will keep the democrat's talking points well oiled and fresh in every newscast. Bring the troops home, it's a lost cause, the Presidents has failed. I wonder if the Department of Defense started publishing how many insurgents we are killing over there, if the American public would support continuing our mission in Iraq?
Why are the only deaths being counted in Iraq coalition forces and Iraqi civilians? I still can't figure out why were not telling the world that were are stacking up dead insurgents like cord wood. If the public thinks our soldiers are dying and not killing the bad guys, we will have what are faced with now, a loss of support for the war. If they knew were killing the terrorists as fast as the Iranians and Syrians are shipping them in, I think the mind set of the people would change. Why doesn't the US military release these figures? Maybe it's a lesson from Viet Nam, or something else I don't understand, but I wish they would.
Lets wait and see how effective the troops in Baghdad are. It will take some time, maybe a year, maybe longer, there will be more casualties if they start cleaning out the worst part of the city, so it may look worse before it looks better. If we can get some help from the UN, great. Let them patrol northern Iraq with the Kurds, or somewhere safe for a while. You want to talk to Iran and Syria? Ok with me, as long as the short version is, stay out of Iraq or we will not stop at the border when we are chasing the insurgents. If we trace a convoy of fighters or supplies to your soil, your soil will get an airstrike.
We are left with two scenarios for Iraq. Retreat, bring the troops home and watch as Iran, and Syria carve up Iraq and the simmering sectarian war will boil over into a full scale civil war with millions of deaths. Remember Pol Pot? With the added bonus of al Qaida and its brand of Islamo fascism strengthened and emboldened to bring the Jihad to America.
Or we can stay. A lot of things must go exactly right, or close to it, for Iraq to become a nation that is somewhat stable. The cost will be great and process will be a long one. Iraq may need a new government with new leaders who are Iraqi first and Shiite, Sunni or Kurd second. Can Iraq find this kind of leadership? I don't know. If we leave without having a government in Baghdad that can represent all the factions, Iraq will fail. That may be the hardest part.
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