Well everyone has an idea on how we should or should have fought the war in Iraq. I have my own ideas and if I were president, we’d have long ago been engaged in Syria and then, if necessary, Iran. That strategy no doubt would have led to greater casualties and expense, but just wait and see if we don’t end up fighting them down the road at a much greater price in blood and treasure.
Harry Reid would have fought the war much differently as well. He called for more troops in Iraq right up to the point that president agreed. Then ‘ol dirty land deal Harry changed his mind and thought it a bad idea to follow his advice. But Harry knows that few listen to him and those that do either have short memories or will expect him tack against the president every time – even when the president agrees with him.
Some want to secure the interior of Iraq and thus the surge. Others think the bright thing to do would be seal the borders and let the Iraqis kill each other in the interior. With the exception of letting the Iraqis kill each other, they are both right. Some want to partition the country. Some want a “slow bleed”. Some want to declare victory and leave immediately. Others want to admit defeat and leave immediately.
The point is every one from Joe S*&t the rag man to Ned the wino has an idea of how to fight the war. All of this points out the brilliance of the founders. They made the president the chief executive of the United States and Commander and Chief of the armed forces. They knew what Harry and the other 534 arm chair generals sitting in congress cannot or will not admit. Only one man can be Commander in Chief.
Bush - for better or worse - is that man. He was re-elected after the war had started and the people, knowing what they were getting into and by a rather large margin – 4 million votes, decide he was the best man among available candidates to act as Commander of the armed forces. When President Clinton was being impeached, Democrats wailed that the Republicans were trying to overturn the election. Well the exact same argument can be made when Democrats propose one piece of legislation after another that undermines the authority of the Commander in Chief.
And oh by the way, what a bunch of whiners. This war by most standards of conflict has not gone that badly. War is hell. By comparison there was report on TV last night about the Mexican Army squaring off against the drug cartels there. The result has been over 3,000 casualties in just two years. I don’t know if the Mexican MSM has news flashes every time someone is killed or a car explodes.
Then there’s the, we’re here to support the troops crowd. OK the troops have been engaged in Iraq for five years. All the while the retention numbers are up and all of the services met recruiting goals this quarter. A bit odd given the coverage of the war by the MSM don’t you think? Yet, Box o’ Rocks Hagle, Jim Webb, and nearly everyone else is trying to screw them out of a victory in Iraq all in the name of supporting the troops. That’s sort of like a coach who throws in the towel and forfeits a game in the middle of the third quarter when his team is about to increase its lead. In the press conference after the game the coach explains that he supports the players and didn’t want anyone to get hurt.
NOTE: Things worked out so well during the last vacation that I’m going to be gone Mon & Tue next week. I look at it as just doing my share for the cause. Maybe we'll kill UBL.
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