Sunday, November 20, 2005
What's Really Going On In Iraq?
Well, if you believe the Senate, it's all going to pot. If you believe the House it's overwhelmingly (403-3) a great national effort.
But there are several people that seem pretty steely-eyed on this thing. One is the ever reliable Iraq The Model blog.
Victor Davis Hanson answers the cut-and-run crowd perfectly.
And from the boots-on-the-ground comes this viewpoint by Major K. Speakng about Congressman Murtha:
And as usual, Hugh Hewitt has the political angles all figured out, which is where this thing really lies. I was struck by the contrary reporting on the House resolution. MSNBC/AP:
Reuters managed a neutral headline, but like AP, the lead makes the comment.
Why is this a problem for the GOP? Because right now we are winning as much because we are not the Dems, as opposed to actual policy proposals. It's too easy. That's why I think the Senate got caught asleep at the switch last Monday. We can't afford to mail it in, too much is at stake.
War is problematic for our legislature, they are seriously reduced to second fiddle, they send the bucks and sit back and watch the executive work. They have a tendency to feel insignificant, not a good place for someone as ego driven as anybody that would seek national office, so they pull stunts like this. Yes, the House pulled a stunt Friday night, but they had too. They had to respond to the stunt pulled in the Senate Monday, and the stunt Murtha and the press were trying to pull.
In a more gentile age, they'd just keep their mouths shut save to root for the home team. Let's hope this past week reminds them of that.
But there are several people that seem pretty steely-eyed on this thing. One is the ever reliable Iraq The Model blog.
In my opinion, these attacks are not a Sunni reaction as much as it represents a continuation for the terrorists plan to provoke a civil war in Iraq because attacks against mosques are not something new and we've seen many of such attacks in the past two years but the torture scandal came as a motivation for carrying out more attacks and making them look like a reaction rather than an act of aggression.There you go -- they are trying to provoke a civil war. And we are supposed to cut-and-run? Wrong, then we give the place over to the barbarians and it really is Vietnam all over again.
Victor Davis Hanson answers the cut-and-run crowd perfectly.
This is the mantra of the extreme Left: "Bush lied, thousands died." A softer version from politicians now often follows: "If I knew then what I know now, I would never have supported the war."We are a people of short attention span. I know that affects our education, but apparently it is affecting our ideas about national policy as well. If that's the case, it may really be time to end television.
These sentiments are intellectually dishonest and morally reprehensible for a variety of reasons beyond the obvious consideration that you do not hang out to dry some 150,000 brave Americans on the field of battle while you in-fight over whether they should have ever been sent there in the first place.
And from the boots-on-the-ground comes this viewpoint by Major K. Speakng about Congressman Murtha:
Colonel, I could not disagree more. Unlike the mudslingers in Washington D.C. and the Media, I don't believe that Col. Murtha has anything but the best of intentions and the welfare of the troops at heart, so I will not slight the man's character in the least. I do, however, believe he is making a critical error. The case has been made many times, and well, by others that establishing a timetable for withdrawal merely tells our enemies how long they need to go underground to conspire and train their thugs before unleashing them on the people full-scale. I will not bother with repeating that argument. I wish to explore a few other points instead.Major K is quite restrained in his approach to this issue, something for which an active duty officer is to be commended, but you can virtually see his disappointment in the post - "I came here to do a job, I want to do the job, I'm willing to die to get the job done, Please don't prevent me from doing the job."
We are far from having done all we can do. Part of the US Military Culture that makes us so effective is our qualitative approach. This is especially the case in combat units.
And as usual, Hugh Hewitt has the political angles all figured out, which is where this thing really lies. I was struck by the contrary reporting on the House resolution. MSNBC/AP:
The Republican-controlled House spurned calls for an immediate pullout of troops from Iraq in a vote hastily arranged by the GOP that Democrats vociferously denounced as politically motivated.AFP:
Reuters managed a neutral headline, but like AP, the lead makes the comment.
In a maneuver to strike at Iraq war critics, the Republican-led House of Representatives engineered a vote on Friday on a resolution to pull U.S. troops immediately from Iraq, which was defeated nearly unanimously.Hewitt's most insightful comment was this one:
The Democrats took their walloping last year and instead of resolving to return to D.C. as an opposition party that would work to craft alternatives to domestic policies while remaining supportive of the GWOT and of the troops, have spent a year digging deeper and deeper into anti-war conspiracy theories and committing themselves to Vietnam Syndrome 2.0.Therein lies both the blessing and the problem for the GOP. Frankly, I don't think the Dems know how to do anything else. This current generation of Democrats was raised on the protest and the symbolic -- they know how to make a stink, but they do not know how to actually govern. For years now they have retained power either by relying on those of a generation before (Gephardt, now discredited, was the last and he was but in the mold of that older generation, not actually of it) or by media manipulation which wins elections, but knows nothing of actual governance (can you say Bill Clinton?) This is coming home to roost. War has a way of making actual governance matter to the American people, even if not the Senate.
Why is this a problem for the GOP? Because right now we are winning as much because we are not the Dems, as opposed to actual policy proposals. It's too easy. That's why I think the Senate got caught asleep at the switch last Monday. We can't afford to mail it in, too much is at stake.
War is problematic for our legislature, they are seriously reduced to second fiddle, they send the bucks and sit back and watch the executive work. They have a tendency to feel insignificant, not a good place for someone as ego driven as anybody that would seek national office, so they pull stunts like this. Yes, the House pulled a stunt Friday night, but they had too. They had to respond to the stunt pulled in the Senate Monday, and the stunt Murtha and the press were trying to pull.
In a more gentile age, they'd just keep their mouths shut save to root for the home team. Let's hope this past week reminds them of that.
