20061114 I Told You So

NewsMax

I told you so. Ok, some of you will agree with the point I am about to make, but for the rest, “I told you so.” Good, now that is out of the way.

Senator Carl Levin, the uber-liberal senator from Michigan and likely chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee in the new Congress, has already expressed his desire for a Congressional resolution calling for a “ phased withdrawal” of US forces in Iraq beginning in four to six months, right on schedule after the Democratic congressional victory.

Now, what is wrong with Senator Levin’s plan? Many Americans might believe that such a withdrawal is exactly what American needs, unfortunately both Senator Levin and most Americans fail to understand why such decisions, especially in the greater context of the conflict with fundamentalist Islam, cannot be effectively made by politicians in Washington.

Wars are won and lost based upon the freedom that military leaders are given to fight the wars that nations have called upon them to fight. Granted, this freedom is not absolute and certainly not unlimited, however this freedom must be granted in the greatest possible quantity to ensure the greatest chance of success. Ironically, this lesson is one America should have already learned based on its experience in Vietnam, yet America is poised to make the same fundamental mistakes in Iraq that led to the political loss of the war in Vietnam.

Senator Levin’s call for withdrawal represents a failure to understand the necessary freedom that the military must have in military operations, and it also reflects a failure to understand the circumstances in Iraq. This dual failure of understanding in no way excuses the political mistakes that have been already made in Iraq to date, but following those mistakes with even worse ones cannot possibly hope to fix the situation as it currently exists.

Unfortunately, making the right decisions requires those making the decisions to realize and accept that liberating Iraq from not only Saddam Hussein but from the complex political, sectarian, and tribal rivalries that web their way across the entire region and find their nexus in Iraq cannot be defined by timetables or benchmarks, but by the reality on the ground. This reality is not measured in terms of years or troop numbers but in terms of victory and success.

Therefore, if America withdraws it forces from Iraq before it achieves victory and success, it not only accepts defeat there, but also guarantees that the effect of that withdrawal and defeat will reverberate throughout that complex political, sectarian, and tribal web to America’s other adversaries in the region, such as Iran and Syria, and even to allies such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

The result of such a choice cannot help but be the true diminishing of America’s stature on the world stage, the emboldening of America’s enemies, and the weakening of America’s capacity to continue to fight fundamentalist Islamic inspired repression, violence, and terror around the world. The question then becomes, how does such a choice make America stronger or safer?

Certainly, there is no question that the approach to Iraq, and really the greater conflict called the War on Terror, must be adapted and changed to face the real facts of the conflict. American tactics in Iraq need to be changed to allow Iraq to deal with its internal problems without external interference. American tactics in Afghanistan need to be adapted to reflect the reality of the situation in that country. America needs to prepare itself for other growing fronts in the greater conflict, such as Somalia and the Pacific Rim.

However, none of these changes and adjustments requires America to abandon Iraq by a premature withdrawal just when Iraq arguably needs the US presence the most. What needs to happen is that the politicians go to the military and find out how these changes and adjustments are best effected and then go to the nation to find the political will and national resolve to achieve the victory that must be achieved.

DLH

This entry was posted in Afghanistan, Entities, Focus, fundamentalist Islam, Government, Iraq, Islam, Nations, News, Politics, United States, War on Terror, World Watch. Bookmark the permalink.

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