Published: August 05, 2008 06:16 pm            

Wars of Choice: the outcome is seldom what government imagined

“There never was a good war or a bad peace." Ben Franklin



The defining issue of our time is when and how to end the Iraq War. History has shown us that it is easier to start a war than to end one.

Before I suggest what we should do in Iraq, realize that I am no military man. My last uniformed service was Boy Scout Troop 111, and I cannot remember if I quit or they asked me to leave. It might surprise you, but I do not do well in rigid structures. Not being a military person might make my view less biased. Often, the military-centric view of war can be summed up with the saying “If you have a hammer, you are always looking for a nail.”

My dad was a respected Marine officer and my nephew is flying a Chinook helicopter in Iraq; my point is that there is military in my family. I have always supported the troops, realizing that if not for the troops, I would be the troops---and that would not be good for anyone.

We need to get out of Iraq. We won this war; we need to declare victory and move on. We now have a record of 6-1-1, good enough not to be fired as an SEC football head coach. Let’s bring the troops back and secure our borders.

To recap, we invaded Iraq, defeated its army, ousted, captured and executed their leader (who massacred 400,000 people). Then we installed a democracy. How is that not a win? Must we wait until every Iraqi corner has a Starbucks and every child is playing video games and getting fat from eating at McDonald’s?

British journalists recently asked, “What if the U.S. won the war in Iraq, but the media did not tell the American people?” The London Sunday Times reports on the U.S. having effectively won the war, calling it “the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror.” The Times makes this declaration because the number of terrorists, once estimated at more than 12,000, has been reduced to approximately 1,200 fighters with their backs to the wall in Mosul.

The surge worked and violence drastically reduced. The media want Obama to win in November, so they conveniently ignore this.

We are not the policemen of the world, nor can we afford to be. All we can do is offer people the opportunity for democracy and capitalism. We can lead a camel to water, but we can’t make it drink.

Historically, and in my view, most wars of choice, seldom turn out well. This one has divided our country as much as Vietnam did. We are going to borrow another trillion dollars to pay for this war trying to help an unappreciative people who are too religiously brainwashed and backward to understand what we have handed them.

In war, many die because of the actions of religious zealots. If the Iraqis cannot acknowledge this and value the opportunity that they have been given, then we really need to throw them the keys to their country and get out---realizing that we may lose our security deposit. The extrication will be extended and fraught with risks, the same as it will be in 10 years if we leave then.

It has been said, “To the victors go the spoils.” In this case, since we are not taking $70 billion a year in oil revenues from Iraq, to the victor goes the $1 trillion debt. This has been an expensive social studies lesson, and it reinforces my distrust of Washington, D.C.

We have the strongest military in history. We will not be defeated by a loose band of religious zealots. If they build up an organized army, we can go in and blow them up with our technology. Guerilla warfare is not our strong suit, as we learned in Vietnam.

Radical Islamic factions have never in history amassed a formidable military, partially because they often hate each other more than they do us. They are poor and desperate, which feeds their hatred of us. Seldom does a 19-year-old-man strap a bomb to his chest when he has career prospects. People who do not even have ESPN or running water cannot conquer us.

If Obama were other than an expedient politician he would declare that the surge he opposed has worked, and use it as a reason to exit Iraq. It is disingenuous for Obama to say the Iraq surge has not worked while calling for one in Afghanistan. If McCain were smart, he would take credit for the surge and get us out of there. Sadly, during elections the two parties get so obstinately committed to the bumper sticker slogans that elected them that they become blind to common sense adjustments needed.

        

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