I wanted to post this to the comments of
Austin Bay's Blog story called
Iraqi Whirlwind, but as with most winger-sites, the comments are disabled. The paragraph I take issue with:
...The military is fighting, the Iraqi people are fighting, but where is the US political class? The Bush Administration has yet to ask the American people -correction, has yet to demand of the American people- the sustained, shared sacrifice it takes to win this long, intricate war of bullets, ballots, and bricks. Bullets go bang, and even CBS understands bullets. Ballots make an impression-in terms of this war's battlespace, the January Iraqi elections were World War Two's D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge combined.... Given the vicious, megalomanical enemy we face, five years, perhaps fifteen years from now occasional bullets and bombs will disrupt the political and economic building. This is the Bush Administration's biggest strategic mistake- a failure to tap the reservoir of American willingness 9/11 produced.
(emphasis added)
I'm sorry, but I'm going to take issue with your last paragraph. You're right that the problem is at home, but it's not the problem that you've identified. Given the time, no one doubts the ultimate military success of the American troops. However, military success rarely transforms to political success, in the longer term. But even this misses the point. The problem is that the American public is not stupid, and they do not like to be misled. This administration screwed up, and, as all the papers tell us, Americans already know it.
This is no longer about security. Entering a war and continuing it are not adding to security anymore than digging yourself out of a hole is helping you climb mountains. In either case, you were further ahead before you started. It is unfair to blame future insecurity on young Americans' unwillingness to dig.
Had we invaded Saudi Arabia or Iran or Egypt or Venezuela or Columbia or Indonesia or North Korea or China, you may be right. As they are all sources of global and national insecurity, but even then the long term security gains would almost certainly be lost in the far more significant short term insecurities. Iraq wasn't a threat; we know that now and many knew that then.
I'll also note that one of the most defining attributes of a real Democracy is its reluctance to go to war--often a complaint of many pro-warriors. This reluctance is not reluctance without reason, but it's reluctance by necessity. Democracies can't afford to be told what to do. Rather they thirst for information so that can do right, so that they can do justice. This source of reluctance--its requirement for debate--is perhaps Democracy's greatest virtue. If you're for some other form of government then you're not much of an American.
Indeed, the founding fathers somewhat trusted the public to protect its own interests best. I think that's evident somewhat from how the public is reacting today. While the ultimate control lies in the elite, the elites rely on the public for soldiers, for money, and for their jobs. It is a mistake to think the public so delusional that it cannot tell when administrations bypass the Democratic process, when administrations over play their hands, or when they are giving rosier than reality assessments. This would undermine anyone's credibility, not simply elected officials.
Moreover, Iraq is not WWII any more than it is Viet Nam. The symbols from Iraq are neither the symbols of WWII nor Viet Nam. They are all very different creatures. To say that the January elections were "DDay and Battle of the Bulge combined" is exactly the rhetoric, which strains both seriousness and credibility. At best, it probably minimizes the American sacrifice of those days (6600 and 19000, respectively).
Don't blame the country for its frustration with Iraq. That does not show any love for your country, that simply shows contempt for it. Rather you should blame the administration for wasting the public's confidence; its failure to respect the process; its failure to respect the truth; and its failure to respect the American way.
People would send their sons and daughters to Iraq, but not when they feel betrayed.