Tell your conservative friends that Bush is wrong on Iraq

ILLUSTRATED: Counter the right wing radio spin on Iraq, we are hollowing are own military and playing into the Jihadist’s storyline.

Conservative radio is trying to tell their listeners this: Bush will be vindicated by historians since he got us a foothold in the Middle East to fight inevitable wars there. They compare this with remaining in Japan, Germany, Korea, Balkans, as Cuba, as well as a 92 year stay in the Philippines. They claim it permanently projects American power.

Short Debunk: First this proves the lie that this was simply to topple Saddam and leave. Secondly, we already had bases in Kuwait and Qatar from which to project power. Lastly, the other wars had big coalitions and enough troops to make the project work. Our military is hollowing, and Bin Laden and others are playing this us in their propaganda narrative.

Long Debunk: First this proves the lie that this was simply to topple Saddam. Germany was toppled by the Allies and Soviets with millions of troops. It was reconstructed after several years by which time it became the front line in the Cold War, hence the large number of American troops. Japan kept its emperor to maintain some stability. Also, Japan, Cuba (Guantanamo Bay), South Korea are either islands or are isolated from other countries. Iraq is at the crossroads of the European, African, and Asian land masses, that’s how come all of these terrorists are streaming into the country.

The Balkans proves how important it is to have a president who is strategic (Clinton) instead of one who is small minded (Bush the son, the father was a good diplomat). Clinton worked with several other countries through an international process, and the Balkans, just as messy as Iraq, has been relatively successful.

The Rule of Law must be supreme

ILLUSTRATED: We can protect our country and our Constitution. Giving up on our Constitution would be the biggest capitulation to terrorists.

I saw the GOP primary debate the other night. I must say the thing that most disturbed me was the theme from the candidates, approved by the audience, that the rule of law must be disregarded in the global counterinsurgency. Mitt Romney called for more Guantanamo Bays "where they don't get the access to lawyers." A capricious executive branch is un-American, and it represents a defeat. Terrorists are trying to goad us into overreacting in a way that destroys our way of life.
Make no mistake, Democrats must convince the public that this war can only be won within a legal framework, and that our politicians are the only ones who can win it.
More and more, I am realizing that the 44th president will need to be one of the most capable states(wo)men America has ever had. The blend of issues regarding law, science, ethics, economics, cultures, and public persuasion are daunting. We must carefully vet our candidates, and focus on which is best for the future.

Iraq: a legitimate plan but no resources for it

ILLUSTRATED: We simply are not going to put up the resources and time required to make the counterinsurgency plan work.

I'm glad General Petraeus is in charge in Iraq, and I hope he becomes Chief of Staff of the Army. His service needs to be rebuilt for the 21st Century. He clearly has a vision for how counterinsurgency warfare works. The thing is, the British have had the most success at this, and their victories in Malaya and Northern Ireland took 12 and 30 years respectively.

Iraq is failing as a state. As callous as this sounds, the body count in the streets does not matter so much as the political process in the Iraqi Parliament. That's going nowhere.

Perhaps if Petraeus were in charge from the beginning, and his political leadership saw this as a police action and not a war, America and Iraq would be in a better place. But the time, manpower, and equipment simply will not be there to make this plan work. We won't walk the walk, to enact this "talk".

Nor should we. As I write this, the town of Greensburg, Kansas has just been destroyed by a tornado. However, 50% of the Kansas National Guard's trucks are in Iraq. Other investments in both security, as well as a host of other problems are not being addressed.

As retired Gen Barry McCaffrey said, there is a timeline, the one ending on November 4, 2008. By that time, there is no way that a functioning Iraqi army or police force will be trained. With half of the educated population gone, there is no way a civil society will be ready to function by then.

This could get ugly with Iran, Saudi Arabia, and even Turkey involved overtly. There will have to be a couple of combat divisions, air, and sea units still in the region to keep the likely war from spreading. There are previous posts where I wrote we cannot leave without stablizing the place for political and moral reasons. However, that has become impossible. We cannot solve the problem, only contain it regionally.