One can no longer fight the perception that things do not go well in Iraq. Conditions are better than the bleak quagmire that the media, the Left and other war opponents portray—but not by miles. To look forward, we must first look back. It is not nitpicking or “armchair quarterbacking” to evaluate the performance, to date, of our game plan.
Several crucial errors were made in the lead up to the war in Iraq and in the actual conduct of the war.
1. Precious months were wasted trying to persuade and convince the worthless, corrupt UN and the irrelevant Europeans. It was a fools hope to think that Russia, France and Germany—all on the take in the Oil for Food charade—could be brought over to our side. Having to plea our case over a period of months led to our unfortunate emphasizing of Iraq’s WMD programs. Unfortunate, because this wasted time allowed Saddam to hide evidence of those WMD’s, or to spirit them to the Bekka Valley. Unfortunate, because our failure to find a nuclear device led to the “Bush lied, people died” criticism of the war and gave the democrat party an opening to politicize the war.
The argument that we had to make an attempt at the UN in order to persuade our own Left is wrong; no effort or action, save an Iraqi bombing of the New York Times building, would have brought them on board.
2. We misjudged the strength and resilience of the insurgency. Not a huge problem in its own right, except for the fact that-
3. Our military is too small. Because we have too few ground troops, we keep units in theatre too long, or rotate them back too quickly. Because we have too few tanks, trucks, APC’s, helicopters, etc., we are wearing them out too quickly from overuse. We have too few aerial tankers, too few attack aircraft, too few ships. Too few everything. Our military is designed to win a war quickly. It is not built to prosecute a long counter-insurgency and nation-building operation.
Rummy was right: you don’t go to war with the military you wish you had, but with the one you have. Unfortunately, we have had over 5 years to meaningfully increase the size of our military and have not done so. The blame for that rests squarely on the administration. They have tried to fight the War on Terror “on the cheap.” It’s not working.
4. We have saddled our troops with unrealistic rules of engagement, or “roe’s”. We have, in effect, failed to be sufficiently brutal in this war. Low Iraqi casualties are nice; low American casualties are nicer. Our “low brutality” method prevented us from shooting looters in Baghdad. It prevented us from crushing, early, Al Sadr’s Mahdi Army. It prevented us from killing hundreds in retaliation for the brutal butchering of American civilian contractors. It prevented us from killing insurgents when they hid in mosques. It prevented us from killing scores of high-ranking Taliban because they were attending, oh my, a funeral.
Our restraint and relative gentleness have not earned us gratitude and respect. It has earned us the contempt of our enemies and increased American casualties.
5. We have failed to treat the Iraq war as the regional war that it is. Iran and Syria should have suffered severe consequences for thwarting our plans in Iraq and for their complicity in the deaths of U.S. service personnel.
6. We are a military at war and a nation at peace thanks to the president’s neglect in bringing the American people on board. The president has done a woeful job of communicating to the American people what our objectives in this war are, and what perils we face should we fail. Forget daytime speeches in Red States during the campaign season. The president should make a series of prime time speeches outlining our goals, our methods and the consequences of failure. The American people need to be educated as to what their stakes are in this conflict. And it’s not cheap gas.
Taking these lessons into account, we should, as we move forward:
1. Fire Condoleeza Rice and replace her with Rick Santorum. Dr. Rice, while highly intelligent, turns out to have a little too much James Baker in her. She seems a touch sanguine about gathering threats that are not being addressed. Santorum gets it.
2. Unshackle our troops. Give them realistic roe’s that allow them to kill the enemy where ever they are. Sorry about the collateral damage.
3. Speak loudly and carry a great big stick. We are spending a smaller proportion of our GDP on defense than we were during the Cold War and Vietnam. Or before Pearl Harbor. That is inexcusable for a nation at war in which failure could very well lead to destruction. Begin the process of adding 2-4 divisions to the U.S. Army and 1 division to the Marine Corps. This may lead to budget constraints elsewhere, but this falls under the heading of “military at war, nation at peace..” Freedom and security are not cheap.
4. Quit telling people that they are either with us or with the terrorists, without demonstrating that there are consequences for not cooperating. Politely tell the South Koreans that the 2nd Infantry Division and her accompanying air assets are needed elsewhere, and that we wish them well with their cuddly neighbor to the north. Sweetly inform the Europeans that all U.S. troops are being withdrawn from their noble contintent. From Germany. From Bosnia. Everywhere. Tomorrow. And, that taking a page from the wise French, we are withdrawing from the military arm of NATO. Also tomorrow. And why are we giving the Egyptians 3 billion dollars a year in aid?
5. Do something about Iran. If we have decided to let them develop nuclear weapons, then shut up about it. If not, initiate a decapitation strike on the Iranian government. Gas prices may go up, but once again, please see “military at war, nation at peace..”
6. Seal the borders. Find a workable solution to creating a guest worker program, but seal the borders.
7. Quit holding Israel to different standards than we would hold ourselves. If she is victim to terror or military attack, we should encourage Israel to respond with as much force as is necessary to address the threat.
There is no alternative to victory in this conflict. Either we prevail or the Islamists do.
cross posted at Laconic Blog
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