Who Asked You?

Daniel Henninger at Opinion Journal writes:

The greatest danger at this moment is that the American public will decide it wants to pull back because it has concluded that when the U.S. goes in, it always gets hung out to dry.

Two major military reports will come out soon on the Haditha incident, and no one will gainsay justice if that is required. But the atmosphere around this event is going to get uncontrollably manic, and that will feed the dark, inward-turning sentiments already poisoning the country's mood over issues like the immigration debate.

In essence, Henninger writes of an Iraq Syndrome mirroring the nation's mood from Vietnam. And my thought is, who asked you?

I don't mean Daniel Henninger - I mean, you? In fact, no one has asked me, or you, or hundreds of millions of others much like us. So, who is it, exactly, that is suffering from this Iraq Syndrome, other than the usual suspects who have always suffered this or that for some time - and likely always will?

I have grave concerns over the National mood as regards Iraq, too. However, none of that concern has anything to do with Haditha, or any other number of our combat troops.

Americans are not tired of the Iraq War, or any less supportive of our troops. What the majority of Americans are growing tired of is our not fighting and winning the Iraq War, when by any measure we can and should.

Making it worse is a previously reluctant and increasingly recalcitrant Iraqi political leadership which can't even accept enough of reality to get its own house in order. And now, likely for internal political motivations, they've displayed the incredibly poor judgment of slapping its only good friend in the face by suggesting they will launch investigations of their own, while demanding we hand over our files to them. Such lunacy forty years ago would have gotten their Prime Minister investigating the business end of an M1 Carbine. And it's difficult to argue such churlishness doesn't deserve some type of formal rebuke.

It's been becoming increasingly clear for sometime that if America wants to win the Iraq War, then we need to stop fighting it like a tea at the UN ... and win!

America can stomach war. What she can't stand is losing them. And I'll be damned if I've ever read any military history indicating how an incredibly insulting, utterly ridiculous round of troop sensitivity training for the troops was a critical factor in getting one won.

If President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld don't want to actually win this war, then they, or we should get out, though geo-politically the latter would be a disaster. But to continue along playing cat and mouse with a significant number of evil men in a country we could have leveled long ago and been done with is starting to look like Vietnam to some.

What we are proving right now says less about America than it does about the way our politicians seem determined to half-fight her wars. And it's looking increasingly half-ass-ed at that.

But what the hell, no one asked me before writing news article after news article telling America it simply lacks the stomach for war.

Allah has an up to date round up of all things Haditha here.

Comments

[Observer]

"Americans are not tired of the Iraq War, or any less supportive of our troops. What the majority of Americans are growing tired of is our not fighting and winning the Iraq War, when by any measure we can and should."

Huh?
Dan, have you no regard for your own credibility? This one doesnt pass the smell test by a million miles. We all see the polls. We all know that majorities think the war a mistake. While there is not yet any strong majority for immediate withdrawl, it is only because of a fear for what would happen there, not any enthusiasm or confidence in the mission.

You might well feel that the problem is that we havent gone full bore. And that might be the majority opinion in the small circle of you and your best friends. But no rational observer could claim that that is a majority, or even a widespread sentiment amongst the American people as a whole.

I know that wingers seem to love to try this, but y'know, you really cant create alternative realities simply by asserting that they exist.

[Geek, Esq.]

You display the basic ignorance that most folks on your side share.

You believe that victory in Iraq can be achieved through military action.

It can't.

The goal in Iraq is a political one, not a military one. The insurgents don't need to defeat the US militarily. In fact, they know they can't.

But, politically they can. And Strangelovian nutters who think the answer is to become more ruthless towards the Iraqi population play right into their hands.

[Dan]

more ruthless towards the Iraqi population play right into their hands.

I'm not Strangelovian, but your mischaracterizing my post into a call for what you suggest is a fine mix of Kafka, with a touch of Orwell mixed in.

[Yowza]

You wouldn't understand Kafka if Orwell treated you to a bio of the roach.

Yowza

[Sgt. York]

The US Military already won the Iraq war - quickly and decisively. The current situation is a police action that involves securing checkpoints, searching of residences, and arresting of suspects. These things should be handled by the local police and internal investigative or security agencies not by us guys manning the 50. The military can't replace the cops or (the equivalent of) the FBI. If you want a stable Iraq somebody better come up with a plan other than unleashing the full fury and might of the US Military on every village across the country and every neighborhood in Baghdad.

Harry Summers (Col. US Army): "The reason we maintain an armed force is to kill people and destroy things in the name of the United States. They are not a scalpel, they are a meat axe or a battle axe, and when you need a battle axe, they're very good at that sort of thing."

My 2-cents.
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[liztay]

So, lets get this straight, Saddam is on trail for unspeakable atrocities committed against his fellow Iraqi people. His defense is that he did what he had to do to protect his country. Now here comes the US Liberation Army and coalition troops who will now go on trial for atrocities committed against the Iraqi people. Their defense is that they did what they had to do to protect themselves and their fellow troops. In the meantime, the US is steadily constructing a mega million dollar Embassy (gated) compound in Iraq that will reportedly reign as the largest anywhere in the world. So, back to that old adage: "where you stand, depends on where you sit"

[kate]

I'm with you, Sqt. York, we won the war in a matter of a few days (grrr, all the winning talk is my pet peeve, we won already). Anyway, we are just babysitting them while they get their act together. I'd say, they better hurry it up.

[Odin]

Folks you're all wrong. The coalition subdued the Iraqi army. The people can (as Saddam proved) be subdued by total cruelty. However we have not, can not and will never win them over. In 6-12 months after we leave, Omar will be sheering goats in that big embassy and teh next tyrant will be in charge...probably Iranian appointed.

[rwilymz]

"we have not, can not and will never win them over."

Unfortunately, god-boy, you'r probably right. You're up against a culture that preaches -- and has preached for 1,300 years -- an Us/Them mentality which posits tribe versus tribe, clan versus clan and people versus people.

If left to their own devices, they will descend into tribal warfare. If they are meddled with by "the West", they will fight the East versus West war.

For what it's worth, you can't simply declare Western meddlers as "neocons" or "corporate boogeyman beholden to radical conservatism" or any such nonsense. The western liberal do-gooders have a long and storied history of barging into other people's cultures and telling them that they
1] don't know how to treat women
2] don't know how to treat minorities
3] don't know how to treat the environment
4] don't know how to treat intellectual liberals
and therefore need to reconstruct their entire culture to meet the approval of the western liberal do-gooders.

The backward, insensitive islamofascists don't really care who they are being scolded by: to them it is all "Western hegemony".