RSS 2.0
Support The Surge–Our Soldiers Deserve It
In the Wall Street Journal today, Max Boot notes the paradox that as our troops prepare to surge to defeat the enemy, our elected leaders are surging toward timetables, micro-management, and surrender:
There is a serious and widening disconnect between the timetables that commanders are using to guide their actions in Iraq and those being demanded by politicians in Washington. Gen. David Petraeus and Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the senior U.S. commanders in Iraq, are quite properly planning for the troop “surge” to extend well into next year. That’s why the Pentagon has alerted 10 combat brigades with some 40,000 soldiers to get ready to deploy in August. They will be needed to replace troops rotating home.
Back home, however, politicians are demanding results in the next few months–or else. And not just Democrats. House Minority Leader John Boehner has said that if they don’t see progress by the fall, even House Republicans will start demanding a Plan B for Iraq, which would presumably involve pulling troops out, not sending more. That message was reinforced by the group of 11 House Republicans who visited the White House last week.Thus all the talk in Washington about troop withdrawals has the opposite effect from what is intended.
. . . Slow progress toward an acceptable modus vivendi may still be possible as long as the U.S. doesn’t insist on artificial timetables to resolve complex and emotional issues. What incentive do Iraqi politicians have to make compromises if they think that American troops are heading out the door? If that’s the case, Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds would be well advised to avoid making any concessions that would strengthen their mortal enemies. Thus all the talk in Washington about troop withdrawals has the opposite effect from what is intended. Instead of spurring Iraqi politicians to compromise, it leads them to be more obdurate.
It’s still possible to stave off catastrophic defeat in Iraq. But the only way to do it is to give Gen. Petraeus and his troops more time–at least another year–to try to change the dynamics on the ground. The surge strategy may be a long shot but every alternative is even worse.
Support the surge dot com!