Iraq: Who wins, who loses?
We may now have reached a turning point in the War in Iraq and, possibly, in the War on Terror. After his fourth trip to Iraq over 17 months, Democrat Senator Joseph Lieberman writes: -“The leaders of America’s military and diplomatic forces in Iraq, Gen. George Casey and Ambassador Zal Khalilzad, have a clear and compelling vision of our mission there. It is to create the environment in which Iraqi democracy, security and prosperity can take hold and the Iraqis themselves can defend their political progress against those 10,000 terrorists who would take it from them.”
Let me add that General George W. Casey, Jr. as commander of the Multi-National Force, has a deeply personal interest in defeating the insurgents in Iraq. His Father, Major General George W. Casey, was my commanding general in Vietnam. When my second Vietnam tour was over, General Casey took time to wish me farewell. The next day, he was killed in a helicopter crash. He was a friend and a truly great soldier.
Please forgive my pride as I report that, in April, 1972, his son, Lieutenant George W. Casey, Jr., joined the airborne battalion I commanded in West Germany. George, Jr. his wife, Sheila, and George’s widowed Mother were guests in our quarters and if I had any “favorite” lieutenants, George, Jr. was one of them. I believe General Casey will prevail in Iraq, not because his initial troop assignment was under my command, but because he has the right genes and I suspect he is driven to make sure that the troops inevitably lost in battle will not have died in vain. I haven’t heard directly from General Casey, but we do hear from troops in the field. Without exception, they say we are winning.
Speaking at the U.S. Naval Academy before the men and women whom he will, inevitably, send into harm’s way, President Bush laid out the strategy we have been pursuing and virtually dared his critics to go read it at: www.whitehouse.gov. While it is my business to read such things, I know most Americans do not have the time to read 38 pages of grand strategy. But if you do, you can see how the “National Strategy for Victory in Iraq” has already been FUBARed (rude military acronym) by the Sinistra Media.
For the left-wing Democrats to make the gains they want in the House and Senate elections of 2006 and to win the presidential election of 2008, the United States must fail in Iraq. I’m not making this up. Just watch the liberal Democrats on TV and just read what they tell the print press. Like it or not (and I suspect many mainstream Democrats do not like it), we have been witnessing a concerted effort by the left-wing of the Democratic Party and by the Sinistra Media to eviscerate, politically, a sitting U.S. President even if it means the deaths and defeat of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The internal polls – the polls non-consultants rarely know about -- are saying that the Bring-Down-Bush-At-Any-Cost Crowd is being rejected by many mainstream members of the Democratic Party. Increasingly, Democrats want their leaders to offer a better plan than that of the Administration or shut up and help push for victory. Bottom line: The Lefties have painted themselves into a corner so dark that an American victory in Iraq will probably keep them there for decades to come.
Let us pray (can we still do that?) that we do not suffer more 9/11-type attacks; however, certain “benefits” would follow: (1) More Americans might understand that we are in a struggle for our survival and get on a mental war footing; (2) Hollywood might rediscover patriotism and (3) many would blame the current Administration for “allowing” the attacks to happen. You see, something for everyone.
William Hamilton, a syndicated columnist, a featured commentator for USA Today and self-described “recovering lawyer and philosopher,” is the co-author of The Grand Conspiracy and The Panama Conspiracy – two thrillers about terrorism directed against the United States.
©2005. William Hamilton.
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