Sullivan Doesn't Get It

Along with joining in the call for Harry Reid's resignation, I want to address Andrew Sullivan's question:

I wish Levin (and many of his fellow "till the last dog dies" Iraq War backers) would clarify whether there's any situation in which they would greet a U.S. defeat abroad with any response save a rote invocation of the stab-in-the-back narrative.

This isn't some matter of, Oh we're America, we can never lose a war braggadocio for me. I can think of a perfect example, even if I would hate to see it come to pass.

Suppose China made its move on Taiwan and after an extended bitterly fought costly conventional war, we truly were exhausted militarily? Would I argue for a nuclear confrontation with China? No, I would not.  America may well have to be prepared to lose that war one day, however unfortunate that may sound.

The difference is, that's a conflict with another world power. For heaven's sakes, we are fighting insurgents in Iraq.

Yes, it is difficult ... and costly, but the only thing that can cause us to lose this war is a failure of will, not of our military. And a nation's will is ultimately its greatest weapon, or its weakest link. It is because we can win this war that we must win it. And if the naysayers presently doing everything they can to undermine our chances would simply stop, if not help, we would damn well win it in shorrter order and with less cost in blood and treasure.

A loss against a third world enemy in Iraq would be a far more dangerous defeat than one to an established world power with a military that, at least in numbers, we may not ever be able to match.

And because Harry Reid has come to embody the very loss of will that America simply cannot afford to entertain at this critical time, it would be welcome and appropriate for him to step down as Majority Leader. That's the message all of America should want to send to our enemies right now. We will not tolerate leaders lacking the will to win a war for freedom that we absolutely must win if we are ever to have hope for turning the Middle East around.

Comments

[southdakotaboy]

Bush needs to do is secretly call Harry Reid and Nacey Pelosie into the White House. Once their with the millitary leadership present he needs to lay out in no uncertain terms that they need to stop talking or that he will have them arrested and placed in millitary prision until the end of the conflict in Iraq. Linclon had no problem throwing important copperheads into jail Bush needs to do the same. The Republican base would give him a standing ovation.
If this continues and we lose this war because the Dems stab our millitary in the back. We will be attacked repeatedly by islamic terrorists if we do. If that happens the Democratic party must suffer for their betrayal of the US.

[Purple Avenger]

"We will be attacked repeatedly by islamic terrorists if we do."

The PRC will undoubtedly move on Taiwan as well. They're going to be watching our resolve very closely...as will the DPRK...and Chavez, who would dearly love to invade Curacao for its refinery and port. Lacking significant refining capability of his own, and Dutch weakness, its inevitable.

[daveinboca]

Looks like Andy Sulliver wants the Lilliputians to keep him strapped down and happy. And his Provincetown friends and the rest of the loons on the left want to grab their ankles and offer their fecal caverns to Osama and his buddies for dwelling places, perhaps temporarily at first until they get to know one another.

Pre-emptive capitulation was tried by the French in June 1940 after the "Phoney War." The Second Time will be a farce as Andy and his handy-dandy buddies welcome the conquerors with buttocks akimbo.

[Scrapiron]

Where is the petition to get Dirty Harry out of the Senate and on his way to prison? I'll sign it and every Vet I know will sign it. Every conservative blog should start collecting signatures (official) and send them to 'who'? No one is in charge of congress, it's now like a kindergarden class for the developmentally disabled without a teacher. I just picked up a little (very little) respect for the SCOTUS but have zero respect for congress and not more than 5 of the members of both houses. I'm sorry I had children and they had children. They will suffer horribly for the actions of the current retarded politicians.

[James]

Reid may be on to something only because nobody has a definition of what a meaningful "win" means in Iraq.

Beside, those Shites are simply not going to lose to any terrorist group, they're 60% of the country.

The question is how many Sunnis and Kurds will be killed before the Shites take complete control of Iraq.

[mkultra]

"Yes, it is difficult ... and costly, but the only thing that can cause us to lose this war is a failure of will, not of our military. And a nation's will is ultimately its greatest weapon, or its weakest link. It is because we can win this war that we must win it."

We are ostensibly fighting on the side of the Iraqi government. The governing coalition of this government is controlled by religious Shia parties. Chief among these parties is SCIRI - the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. That's right - the most powerful party in the Iraqi government - the government that Americans are dying to defend - is calling for an Islamic revolution in Iraq.

And because SCIRI was founded in post-revoutionary Iran, because it receives financial support directly from Iran, and because there are innumerable ties between SCIRI and the mullahs in Teheran, the revoultion that SCIRI is calling for is modeled after the Iranian revolution. In essence, SCIRI seeks to install an Iranian style theocracy in Iraq. After all, the party is called SCIRI.

It is SCIRI that is responsible for the Shia death squads that operate out of the interior ministry. It is SCIRI that controls the illegal miliita known as the Badr Brigades, a militia SCIRI refuses to disarm. It is SCIRI that has been constantly pressuring the United States to release from custody the Iranian agents that we captured - agents accused of being complicit in the killing of Americans.

As the Telegraph reported:

****

Iran has longstanding links with Shia political parties inside its neighbour, notably the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the party’s leader, and most of its senior figures lived in exile in Teheran during Saddam Hussein’s rule. In the 1980s, they founded an anti-Saddam militia, known as the Badr Brigades, making use of Iranian weapons and advice.

When Anglo-American forces toppled Saddam in 2003, Mr Hakim and SCIRI returned to Iraq.

They are accused of becoming a bridgehead for Iranian influence. According to the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an exiled opposition group, thousands of members of SCIRI and the Badr Brigades are still on Teheran’s payroll. They receive monthly sums in Rials in return for carrying out "terrorist attacks" and causing "chaos", said Dowlat Nowrouzi, the British representative of the resistance council.

Weapons and personnel are said to come through the Shalamchech border crossing, which is allegedly under the control of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

****

And let us not forget Jamal Jafaar Mohammed. He was elected to parliament on the SCIRI ticket. This man - this terrorist - has been sentenced to death in Kuwait for his role in the 1983 bombings of the French and US embassies.

So you would think we would snatch him and send him to Kuwait, right? Well, we can’t – as a member of parliament, he has immunity. So he continues to be a member of parliament. And American boys continue to die so that this piece of garbage can sit in the Green Zone, under US protection, while he plots his next terrorist attack.

Of course, on top of SCIRI you have Sadr's cronies. They are also part of the governing coalition too. They have killed Americans too. They seek to bring about an anti-Western theocratic state too. And as Americans have died in defense of the Iraqi government, they have died in defense of Sadr too.

SCIRI, Sadr, and the other Shia terrorists are the real power brokers in Iraq. They only threat to their existence is the Sunni resistance, which we are killing for them, thank you very much. And to the extent this Shia thugs win, Iran wins.

So that's your win, Dan. Over 3400 American lives. Over a trillion dollars. And for what? Iran 2.0.

When history judges the dead-enders who want to keep us bogged down in Iraq, its judgment will be harsh, as it should be.

[bloodrage bob]

stop it, dan. common sense and logic - as well as calling reid a traitorous pig - only confuses & frustrates them. they'd prefer to talk about 'american idol'.

[Legalize]

And I never thought that St. McCain's Dukakis moment(s) could be surpassed. Bravo, Riehl.

[merlallen]

When we go to war with China, we better have a Democratic President. Republican'ts have a long track record of losing wars to even third world countries.
Under a Republican't, China would kick our ass in a week.

[vetter]

so sad, Dan. These folk are lockstep in their ideologies, America be damned....

[benrand]

I don't tihnk any liberal/leftist/imbecile understands that we can't leave Iraq.

We're there for a long time, much like we are in Europe, Japan, Cuba, Africa...

It's not that hard to fucking figure out that we have to stay.

Oh, but they're military and strategic geniuses, educated at the finest high schools across the land. they have a death fetish, I think, obviously, to communists the individual doesn't matter at all.

What's a few dead Iraqis when you have points to make?

[daveinboca]

Liberals are high school dropout losers like Sean Penn---big mouths and tiny brains and no stones.

When taunted by a Liberal in Parliament that he was going to die "on the gallows or of a vicious social disease," Disraeli replied "That depends on whether I embrace your principles or your mistress."

[Lord Nazh]

Are we sure that Harry Reid isn't french?