“Andrew, let me first say I love your blog and have read it every day since I first discovered it last fall. But over the past few days, reading your posts has been painful – a never ending litany of self-flagellation. Just a few weeks ago you fisked National Review for going wobbly, but their crisis of confidence was nothing compared to the one you’re exhibiting now. Abu Ghraib seems to be what pushed you over the edge. Some of things that went on there were, indeed, horrendous. But the crimes have been investigated, the guilty charged, and you can be certain this stuff will never happen again after all of this.
But I doubt Abu Ghraib is going to change many minds. To the opponents of the Iraq war, the invasion itself was one giant war crime. According to them, our soldiers, simply by standing on Iraqi soil, are engaged in an immoral, illegal, violation of the precious sovereignty of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. I have long since I learned to ignore their opinion. The Arabs? They hated us already – that’s why they slammed two jetliners into the World Trade Center. America should not grovel before a region that has spawned an ideology that,in my opinion, trumps Communism and even Nazism in sheer wretchedness, in its zeal to obliterate all that is good in life. Do you honestly think the Arabs would not still hate us today had Abu Ghraib not happened? Some state-sponsored conspiracy theory would have taken its place.The Europeans? I’ll start to care about what they think when they back up their bark with some bite and begin to seriously contribute – militarily speaking – to world security. As one blogger has pointed out (I cannot recall who it was), approximately 500 U.S. soldiers were hanged in World War II for committing crimes in Europe. Did that mean the war to smash Hitler’s empire was unjust? Of course not. In any large population, crimes are bound to happen.
Also, you rightly point out the difficulties in post-war Iraq. But has it occurred to anyone that perhaps such a situation was unavoidable? That when you’re dealing with the Middle East, any progress is to be appreciated? The CPA has had to make some tough calls, and every decision has inherent risk – sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn’t. The reform of the Middle East is bold, dangerous, and necessary. There will be losses, maybe even terrible losses as the War on Terror unfolds. But like Americans of previous generations, we are called to make the sacrifice. We must stick it out, and if things take a turn for the worse, double our efforts. In the face of anything that might happen, we must exhibit nothing less than a steely determination to see the mission through, and always remember to completely ignore what the Europeans and Arabs – people who want us to lose – have to say about it. If this nation cannot withstand 650 combat deaths in one year (at that rate, we’ll have to be in Iraq for approximately 90 years to reach the level of casualties in Vietnam), then we truly are a paper tiger.”
ADDICTED: “I’ve read your site for the last couple of years, emailed you and even received an email or two back from you. Oh, and donated this year ($20 for last year and $20 for this!) You amuse me, infuriate me, inspire me and rattle me. In a word, I’m addicted. And admitting to it is, so I’ve been told, the first step to recovery, right?
But in recent months, with the gay marriage issue at the forefront and the recent “issues” in Iraq, my thoughts have gone to you. Many people, most perhaps, might say about you as I do about politicians. “He’s a big boy who chose this profession, he’ll be just fine.” But I can’t help but feel for you, in the most supportive way, of course. Your honesty has been an inspiration to me in the past and continues to be in this very disturbing time.
Your public struggle with this administration reminds me, as it should others, what this country’s government is all about. That criticizing those you support and agreeing with those you don’t is so very important. The absence of this admirable trait is why we’re so divided red/blue right now. And it’s why I continue to demand of Kerry his respect and honesty. And until he does give me/us that, he will not win my support.”
BUCK UP: “I used to be an Iraq war agnostic. I was not sure the post war would work (among other things). Like anyone who follows military history (I did a bit as a grad student) I was very much afraid of an insurgency and what that would entail. It came; it is/was pathetic as such things go. Abu Ghraib was horrible, but it was bound to happen. It is how we as a nation react to such things that make us what we are. The post war is nothing close to the disaster you are making it out to be. We are making mistakes. We are not gods. De-Nazification of Germany did not work, what made us think de-Baathification would work in Iraq? If you think this is bleak, you should read about post-war Korea in the archives of the Chicago Tribune (what I used at U of Illinois). Iraq is a relative paradise. Oddly because of April and EVERYTHING that has happened in the last month or two I am an Iraq war agnostic no more. I see more signs of things working out than failing. But most importantly I believe Iraq is helping us win in Afghanistan. The money that would have been going to the Taliban is instead going to Iraq, and frankly killing bad guys in Iraq is easier than getting them in Afghanistan (surprisingly it was Pat Tillman’s death that made me focus on Afghanistan). Some people liken this to 1940, they are wrong. This is like May of 1941. Things are still bad, but we can see what the end might look like.
Good lord, Andrew, buck up. This is war. We spent the past 25 years (since Khomenei or even earlier if you count Sirhan Sirhan) trying to get along with the Muslim jihadists by non-military means, and it led to 9/11. If we don’t stop them here, if we withdraw, if we lose our nerve, do you think they will hesitate one minute to bring the war to our shores? No matter what a few prison guards did, we have no choice but to keep on in Iraq. Imagine the next terrorist attack. Suppose nuclear devices are set off simultaneously in New York, Washington, and Los Angeles. Suppose not 3000 dead but 300000 dead. What do you think the American people will demand of our President then? My greatest fear is that we will become genocidal. The cry will be to kill them all. As much as we are there to protect the US against the Arab Muslims, we are also there to protect the Arabs from the US. It is one thing for Bin Laden to issue a fatwah to kill all the Americans. He does not have the capability to do it. It is something else entirely for the US to decide to kill all the Arabs. We have the capability. We are closer than everyone thinks to this day. For their sake and ours, we must stay and prevail.”