The broader argument of this post by Wretchard at Belmont Club is worth debating. The tectonic shifts in global politics – the slow demise of Chirac and Schroder, the resilience of Bush and Blair, the potential for reform at the U.N. – may well be connected. But Wretchard assumes this part of the equation as well: “the defeat of the Iraqi insurgency.” Excuse me? There’s a difference between some positive developments and the alleged defeat of an insurgency that seems far from deflated. Greg Djerejian brings a dose of reality to the analysis. The truth is that we are in the early stages of a long, long war of attrition in Iraq. It’s still winnable, but the odds are against us. Greg actually gets incensed by some of the pro-Bush reflexive commmentary in the blogosphere on this and contends it doesn’t help at all. No shit, Sherlock:
This is why I am so incensed by the too rosy assessments of the state of the war effort (especially by smart people like Wretchard who should know better). Adults need to stop scoring this like a parlor game. Criticism = treacherous disloyalty to POTUS. Praise = omniscient Rummy rules us happy serfs so wisely! As a Bush supporter, let me give my level-best, most honest criticism here. We never put enough troops in theater and barely have enough there now. We are resource-constrained, and doing the best we can short of increasing the size of the military (which is getting increasingly problematic) or re-instituting the draft (not kosher in the era of Paris Hilton and the Apprentice). What’s the best way forward? If we could scrap a few more battalions together to go into Anbar Province that wouldn’t be a bad start. Short of marching into Teheran or Damascus (the height of folly), we also need to continue to move towards better securing each of those long borders (today, more Syria’s as Sunnis are our biggest challenge; tomorrow perhaps, Iran’s, as the Shi’a might become more problematic if we are seen to be overly protecting the Sunni in the future) using every single rational means conceivable and at our disposal.
The trouble is: we haven’t committed enough resources to succeed quickly; and we may not have the political backing at home to succeed in the very long term. The first task for the administration is to level with the country about this. But they’d rather spin.
The Dish 