Were the Democrats Right About Iraq?

Is Iraq like Vietnam?

Iraq, is it Vietnam? Paz, one of my liberal commenters, whom I am grateful to for his passion and commitment to the positions of his side, made some points in a comment yesterday that are worthy of a detailed response in a post. Conservatives have criticized liberals in the past for their positions on Iraq. Yet, it appears that some of us now agree with what liberals said a year ago—namely, that Iraq is similar to Vietnam, and so on.

My opinion is that Iraq was not similar to Vietnam a year ago, but now it is.







The reasons it has become similar are:

1. The Iraqis are not fighting hard enough to win their own freedom.

2. The liberal press has undermined the war effort, and prevented us from fighting to win.

3. We don’t have a President Truman or FDR in office who will ignore political correctness and do what it takes to install democracy in Iraq, using overwhelming force like we did in WWII with Germany and Japan.

Stay the Course

Basically, those of us who welcome the national debate on Iraq being conducted now because of the Iraq Study Group, are presumably pitted against those who are steadfast in their Stay the Course opinion. I don’t see it this way. I am still for Stay the Course, as I always was, except I want more troops and more vicious fighting to effect it. On this, I agree with Senator John McCain, at least on the more troops part of the equation.

I am a pragmatist, though. I don’t see this congress, and this president, and this American public, propagandized by liberals, agreeing with Senator McCain, nor with me. We aren’t going to get more troops in Iraq, and we certainly aren’t going to be allowed to fight the war the way it ought to be fought—the way we fought in World War II.

click to show/hide the rest of the post

Therefore, leaving our troops basically as standing guard in streets that are descending into civil war, in target zones for foreign insurgents, without allowing them to really fight, is cruel and unwise. Do I want to Stay the Course in Iraq? Yes, if we are allowed to Stay the Course and Win. Otherwise, we need to do some kind of pullback, and let the Iraqis kill each other if they choose this way of behaving. In this case, we must still remain in the region, in safer zones, to prevent the complete domination of the Middle East by Iran.

Did We Make Mistakes in Iraq?

Yes. I know some of you are fans of Donald Rumsfeld, and I can agree that the man was courageous in trying to change the nature of our armed forces to meet the challenges of the 21st century. On the other hand, I believe Colin Powell was right in saying we ought either to have not invaded Iraq, or gone in with overwhelming force—including an overwhelming force for the post invasion phase. We simply never had enough troops to deal with any insurgency. We can’t police the borders with Iran and Syria with the numbers we have. We can’t stop trouble spots and then hold them. Our present number of troops could be sufficient if the Iraqis were fighting with us, but they’re not.

Was It a Mistake to Invade Iraq?

No. Saddam Hussein was a villain who needed to go; and he was intent on causing serious trouble for the world. We are better off with him gone, regardless of civil war in Iraq. We just need to be nimble, to adjust to the changing situation there.

Did our American Soldiers Die in Vain?

No. The invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq have altered the worldwide equation for peace in a dramatic fashion. 9/11 has been answered in a way that ensures future terrorists will think hard about an unprovoked major attack on our soil. Terrorists know now that should they drop a nuke on us, for example, we will hunt them down and kill them, and go beyond this—we will take their countries away and send them into the hills and caves.

Plus:

A major villain is off the world stage.
The Iraqis have been given a chance for democracy.
Democracy is at least being considered in other parts of the Middle East.
Libya is no longer a threat.
Renewed efforts at peace for Israel and Palestine are being promoted with a new urgency.

The last reason why our soldiers did not die in vain is that invading Iraq was simply the right and moral thing to do. We stood up to a bully who was killing innocents, and who would kill other innocents in the future. It is never wrong to do the right thing, regardless of consequences.

The Strategic Situation Now

The major threat now is Iran. The failure in Iraq can give Iran an opening to expand its hegemony in the Middle East; or, we can handle this problem wisely. Since we have a base in Iraq, we are still in a good position strategically to keep Iran from overrunning the area. We don’t need to stay in the middle of the Iraq civil war in order to do this; merely being in the area would be enough.

The nuclear question is another matter. I don’t see that there is any worldwide will to stop Iran from getting the bomb, thanks to the liberals’ beloved U.N. Ideally what should we do? Invade Iran and effect regime change, and shut down their nuclear operations. Will we do this? No. Why? Because of the touchy feely liberals in our country, and because of the lack of will in the U.N.

What is for sure, given the present political situation, is that Iran will get the bomb. Then what? I’m not smart enough to say. What do you think?

Rock

(*Wikipedia is always my source unless indicated.)

Subscribe to my feed
                                          

Join me in the war on error, in the fight for truth, justice, and the American way! Support this site! Wanna swap links? It’ll help us both. Truth—The No Spin Politically Incorrect Zone

Join Rock's Political Blog Ring. Both Liberals and Conservatives are Welcome. (see left side bar)

click to hide most of this post