We’ve Won?

A rather startling comment from Jawa Report, this morning:

We won the war, so Iraqis have finally come to believe. Only on the streets of Europe and America is there really a question over “if” we can win.

Again: We won.  I know that will disappoint many on the Left.

And I know the response: if we already won, how come there are so many Americans still dying in Iraq.

And the answer is: there aren’t a lot of Americans dying in Iraq.

3783 Americans have been killed in in Iraq over the course of 4 years.

At the Battle of Antietam, in a single day, 23,000 were killed.

At the Battle of the Bulge 19,276 Americans were killed.

It’s never been a question of if we would win, only a question of if Americans would see it through to victory.

You’ll definitely want to read the article below.

“The Article Below” turns out to be from the WSJ site, and written by Fouad Ajami, who teaches at Johns Hopkins.

“We may differ with our American friends about tactics, I might not see eye to eye with them on all matters. But my message to them is one of appreciation and gratitude,” he said. ” To them I say, you have liberated a people, brought them into the modern world. They used to live in fear and now they live in liberty. Iraqis were cut off from the modern world, and thanks to American intervention we now belong to the world around us. We used to be decimated and killed like locusts in Saddam’s endless wars, and we have now come into the light. A teacher used to work for $2 a month, now there is a living wage, and indeed in some sectors of our economy, we are suffering from labor shortages.”

Rant mode on:

The article is one that will fly in the face of the conventional wisdom …(I hate to call anything associated with the left, “Wisdom” , but the phrase is so ingrained in our language, that I can hardly do else, whatever the particular meanings… ) … and will, therefore, be ignored.

Rusty’s points about the small death rate, are well taken.  They are points I’ve made here, previously, many times.

One more thing about that; I am firmly convinced that many, many more Americans would have died had we not reacted as we did.  Very few of those dead would have been wearing military uniforms.  What would those who are currently complaining about our military people dying say about that?  Their complaints are thereby labeled , correctly, as disingenuous.

The writer is correct, we most certainly have won the war.  Now it comes down to hanging on to victory.

Any bastion of freedom, including our own country, requires military strength to maintain itself.  We know, for example, that both Iran and Syria have been playing their little tricks in trying to overturn this victory.  We know with some reasonable assurance , that they’ve attempted on at least one occasion, recently, to deploy chemical weaponry to that end.  Thankfully, that attack backfired.  We know that Iran is busy chasing nuclear weaponry.  It seems likely that the reports of 10,000 centrifuges to create such weapons is pure nonsense, and on that basis it seems more likely that they are obtaining their weaponry from elsewhere.  Recent reports would seem to suggest that the PRK is supplying Iran.  Frankly, that wouldn’t surprise me at all… the timing of the revelation is spot on with what one would expect were the PRK lying to the world about their own nuclear intentions.

So, as I asked yesterday, does anyone really think that these two are going to behave themselves absent a strong U.S. presence in the region?

I fear I’m going to get a little pedantic, here, but it’s to make a point.

Certainly, the Democratic party, and the left as a whole, have a great deal invested in declaring our actions in Iraq and abject failure.  That’s a lot harder to do, however, with the news coming out of Iraq these last few months.

Certainly, the Democratic party, and the left as a whole, have a great deal invested in declaring what’s being waged over there just now a civil war.  However, that’s a lot harder to do, given the involvement of Syria and Iran.  Civil wars, after all, are by definition internal matters not involving people from the outside. Further, there are the reports to deal with of the Iraqis themselves being very grateful for our involvement.  Given that sentiment, and given the involvement of the rogue nations, as well as rogue actors from Pakistan Malaysia and so on, it seems inaccurate to suggest that American deaths are taking place at the hands of Iraqis, per’se’.

Certainly, the Democratic party and left as a whole, have a great deal invested in saying that we should withdraw from the region yesterday, that our withdrawal will make little to no difference.  I am immediately, and unwillingly, reminded of the unmitigated disaster that occurred upon our withdrawal from Southeast Asia.  The resultinone g bloodletting was almost incalculable.  I fear such bloodletting would not only also occur in the Middle East under similar circumstances, it would be worse.  Far worse.

There is a blind, stupid brand of sinister driving the left,  that they can ignore such signs as have been coming from Iraq, these days.  I don’t think the majority of them smart enough to be sinister in their intentions toward the United States.  Rather, I suspect that they are blind to what the consequences are, of what they recommend in terms of our policy in Iraq, and the rest of the world.  That said, the end result of the following their advice, is the same as it would be if they really intended harm to the U.S…. and to the world.

That statement, perhaps, is more insulting than is intended.  In looking at the left as regards military affairs over the last five decades or so, it doesn’t take a great deal to discern the patterns involved.  It seems to them too much like ego, to say “We are very powerful”, and to make policy based on the judicious use of that power.  And so, they would rather that we in the west pretend that we were not.  But I think in doing that, we do ourselves more harm than simply admitting our strength is a factor, and moving on from there.

What drives this lack of willingness to admit we are strong , among the left, is fear.  Ultimately, fear.  Afraid of one another, afraid of themselves.  Afraid of what misuse of that power could create in the world.  The fear, perhaps, is justified, but I think overemphasized.

Are we concerned that every electrical outlet in our homes, and are places of work, contain enough potential energy to kill?  No, we simply accept that such things are powerful, and move on from there.

Similarly, are we concerned that when we drive our automobiles were carrying with us to allow us to level small buildings?  No, we simply accept that such things are powerful, and move on from there. 

I would argue, that the power that we have as a nation, has served to do much good in the world, over the course of our nation’s history… The total of which, the battles which Rusty lists our losses in, is but a small part of.

It is illogical in my view to keep that power under wraps , hidden, out of sight, unused, in the name of protecting the peoples of the world, when those peoples have so obviously benefited from the judicious use of it , in the last century and more.

History has shown us, time and again, that peace is not brought through negotiation.  Peace is not brought through peace treaties.  Peace is not brought through sitting around a campfire and singing songs of peace.  And history most certainly shows is clearly that peace is not brought through capitulation.  Peace is brought by the judicious use of force. Only then does any of the rest of it, have any effect whatsoever.  Peace treaties aren’t worth the powder to blow up, until such time as the war has been won. Further, all parties must be willing to abide by such treaties… and the use of force is usually required to accomplish that willingness. War, after all, never solved anything, except Nazism, communism, slavery, oppression, etc.  War, unfortunately, is the price we pay for peace and freedom.  Welcome to the real world.

What I am asking the left to do, in this, is probably the hardest thing that anyone will ever have to do; I’m asking them to admit they were wrong.  That is particularly hard to ask of a political movement, because to admit such means that their claim to power disappears with their perceived correctness.  That said, the evidence that the left has been wrong, all along, is there for all to see.  That’s the kind of evidence, upon which we are supposed to be making decisions, out here in the real world.

The evidence is in ; we’ve won the war.  Will the left allow us to keep the peace?