W said "We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail." Well, his political adversaries are ready to do all three in one fell swoop by turning Iraqi reconstruction and security over to the corrupt and pusillanimous U.N.
The National Review Editors know better, In A Bearable Burden they offer great advice: "hold the line."
To speak impatiently about reducing the American presence in Iraq signals a lack of resolve to see the reconstruction through. Such signaling is dangerous. Nor should we be deluded into thinking that putting a non-American face on Iraq will mollify our enemies. That idea should have gone up in smoke with the U.N. bombing. We are in a war on terrorism. At this moment, the top priority of our enemies in that war is the failure of democracy in Iraq. To achieve that goal, they are willing to kill Iraqis in large numbers. They will not shrink from killing Swedes.
"We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail." So sayeth George W. Bush. We will not do any of these things until we win the war on terrorism. Ok, so how exactly will we know we have won? When terrorism is eradicated, those who foment it are brought to justice, and those governments who support it are removed from power and replaced by friendly democracies? If so, I can guarantee that we will tire, falter, and fail. If we hope to win this war, then we need a realistic goal of what we consider winning.
Here is where the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq part company, for it is really only a battle in the war on terrorism. We have won the military battle in Iraq and we have ousted the regime of a brutal tyrant. The goal however was regime change, which requires that a new government be put into place. The stated goal is that this be a free and democratic government of Iraqis. The unstated part is that a democracy is not enough, it must be secular, capitalist and decidedly pro-American. Thus religious leaders, socialists, and nationalists need not apply. This is the real reason the Bush administration does not want to internationalize Iraq, we don't want those damn European socialists mucking up the conservative utopia envisioned by the neo-cons.
Posted by: Silence Dogood at September 2, 2003 12:19 PMSilence,
Thank you for your comments. But I completely disagree with your assessment in every way.
The article refers to people who are ready to quit in Iraq, either by declaring victory and running away or declaring defeat and running away. The deaths of our soldiers are tragic. But if we need to stay five more years and lose 500 troops than we must.
And it is not for "a neocon utopia" (though it sounds swell). It is for a real shot at freedom and self-governance in the MidEast. We are doing much better than the NYTimes and Newsweek and NPR would have us believe.
There will not be a champagne-cork-popping moment of victory in the "War on Terrah," but there are victories along the way: 100 newspapers in Baghdad, Internet cafes in Tikrit, girls going to school in Kabul.
I was stirred by the words "We will not falter..." they are admittedly martial and gung-ho. But our President believes that we will persevere -- as do I.
In 1965, another Texan spoke the words, "We will not be defeated. We will not grow tired. We will not withdraw..." That was Lyndon B. Johnson talking about Why American's fight in Vietnam.
-Draw any of your own coorelations if you please.