Let me begin by saying that I don't believe that we can turn Iraq into a democracy any more than I believe that Islam is a religion of peace. There is nothing in the life experiences or history of these people that show any inclination for freedom and representative government. That being said, we cannot leave until we do achieve a stable and defanged Iraq.
America has had a reputation since Vietnam. That reputation is that when the going gets tough, we get going. As in as far away from the battle as possible. Our aversion to casualties and long drawn out struggles is well known. The jihadists and Ba'athists in Iraq know this. All they think they have to do is keep engaging in one time or two time a day guerilla hits against us, and we will tuck our tails and run.
If that happens, then we might as well put a sign on our national back that says "Kick Me". This is, and has always been, a world governed by the aggressive use of force. We can never make the enemy like us. If we run at the sight of blood, though, then we show the world that we are weak and will have lost much more than one war.
Whether one supported the war in the beginning or not, given the nature of the world, the necessity of staying the course is obvious. The entire purpose of terrorism and guerilla warfare is to break the resolve of a militarily stronger enemy. We cannot let the terrorists win. How can people not see this?
5 comments:
The anti-war people will go to any length not to see the obvious truth. That you cannot invite your enemy to a tea party and make nice and everybody will then become best friends and forgive and forget totally escapes them. On the contrary the human race HAS changed in the past 60 years and has in some respects regressed. The world has become a more dangerous place with the advent of more and more "super" weapons and their distribution into the hands of upstart dictators.
We cannot let the terrorists win. How can people not see this?
They've been dumbed down by liberals. They look, sigh/shrug, then turn away looking for solmething else to entertain them.
I agree completely, except that I have more hope than you do that the Iraqis will be capable of living within a democracy at some point in the future. The Kurds seem to have managed to do so within recent years.
Wally
Vietnam will haunt us forever. In a way, that is a good thing. It will remind us of what happens when we let the POLITICIANS run a war. Gulf War I was a decisive victory - one which we SORELY NEEDED. It proved we COULD win a war - on OUR terms.
We cannot leave Iraq now. We've got to stay the course and stabilize Iraq as much as possible, THEN we can leave. It's not easy to see our troops being attacked and killed every day, but, if we leave now, then their deaths HAVE been in vain.
My father was just saying the other day that the time might come that we are pushed to look at the Islam religion the way we finally looked at Communism and got to war against it. Of course this sounds extreme to most but in the face of 9-ll, and other terrorist acts, it doesn't sound totally crazy. I just think how they treat their women.
Post a Comment