Five Years On
Your host at Weekly Standard, The War for Iraq and its Lessons.
Kristol, Gunsmoke, why is the Bush admin silent on the new Pentagon report?
Hayes, Saddam’s Dangerous Friends, what a Pentagon Review of 600,000 Iraqi documents tells us.
Feaver, Why We Went into Iraq, the question McCain must answer.
NYT’s John Burns, on the receiving end of those missiles I mentioned, once a fan of this war, is a baby-splitter now.
Meanwhile, Gerard at American Digest on the 5th.
Driscoll goes back to the 90s with the inconvenient vid.
Gateway on the 20th.
Dennis Sevakis at American Thinker takes us back to the ’70s.
Topics: Iraq
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:02 pm Comments (12) on Saturday, March 15, 2008
12 Responses to “Five Years On”
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March 15th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
[...] Jules Crittenden recalls being there when the balloon went up. [...]
March 16th, 2008 at 2:07 am
Regarding Bill Kristol and his analysis of the guilty silence of the White House, if I had as many friends defending me with ‘of course there were mistakes made but…’ I think that I would be gunshy too. From the first time that I heard that formula I was outraged at the view that the Repubs and the friendly press were taking. It’s not like we were at war and they were damning him with faint praise so they could sound open minded. I’m amazed that he was able to stick with it for so long. With friends that refused to challenge the definition of ‘Stay the course’ as a military strategy, who needs enemies.
There have been two correlations in this war, a positive one with Vietnam that was false on the face of it and one that was negative with WWII. That correlation was true. With all the backbiting by the opposition and the party in office WWII would have been lost because we would have never gained the balance needed to win. I call the Repubs spineless and include Kristol in that category. And NO, I will not tell you how I really feel.
March 16th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Great article, Jules. Maybe somebody will read that and realize that things aren’t as simple and clear cut as they thought they were.
As for the Pentagon report, it’s unfortunate, but I think the Bush people are right. Arguing with the press over the case for war is a loser for them.
March 16th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
In lieu of a trackback, with all respect, I’m just adding my commentary on your essay right here:
“This is perhaps the best recent essay I’ve read the entire cultural, miltary, and political significance of the war, and I’ve read a lot.
There’s not much more I can add except to reinforce the notion that this is the conflict of our time, and that for all the cost and sacrifice, also on the line is America’s reputation as the world’s leading power.
War opponents will continue to berate and demonize the war. Today the Bush administration is vilified for its foreign policy failures in 2003 through 2006, but very few are willing to concede the huge foreign policy learning that the adminstration undertook to set a new course toward victory. We are not done, as General David Petraeus said this week, but the level of violence in Iraq over the last year has dropped so dramatically that the conflict has all but disappeared from the front pages of the newspapers.
The notion of Iraq as FUBAR among implacable antiwar forces – as well as mainstream journalists – will be difficult to dislodge.
The truth, of course, is that we’re winning in Iraq, and while considerable debate over the strength of al Qaeda or other anti-democratic groups will continue, the fact remains that we can simply either recognize the phenomenal progress we’ve made – and commit American resources and will to seeing the job through – or we can succumb to a cost-sensitivity that will set back American foreign interests more disastrously than at any time since Vietnam – an earlier, regrettable retreat from war that left the world’s correlation of forces dangerously advantageous to the evil designs of Marxist-Leninist totalitarianism.
We cannot afford to do the same today.
Crittenden’s right: Iraq is now the world’s ground zero in the battle against 21st century Islamic war. There’s no retreat from the struggle, no matter the politcal dynamics at home. Our enemies won’t rest until they’ve achieved their goal of the complete and utter destruction of the United States, by any means necessary.
That’s a lesson that can never be forgotten this campaign season.”
Thanks for the space, but thanks most of all for keeping up the fight for truth here at home. That battle’s part of our larger struggle against the world’s forces of evil and nihilism.
http://americanpowerblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/lessons-of-iraq.html
March 16th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
The Weekly Standard article makes some good points, but the central argument is flawed by the fact that it doesn’t face the argument of the Democrats head-on. Characterizing that position as “whining” and “childish” and saying they need to grow up is ineffective. The Democrats and their arguments are winning the political discourse in the States. You should ask yourself why, and examine their arguments, rather than simply dismissing them as childish. As it stands, by not facing their arguments head-on, you’re falling prey to the same cowardice of which you accuse them.
March 16th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Crittenden’s article is a nice piece of writing.
“Why is the Bush administration silent on the new Pentagon report?”
Because it’s irrelevant. The Baathists and Al Qaida are in cahoots isn’t and wasn’t one of our reasons for fighting against the Iraqis.
The Baathists are in cahoots with terrorist organizations, like Abu Nidal’s FRC is and was a reason (Nidal continued to operate his terrorist organization IN IRAQ for many years even after the Iraqis were told, by the U.N., to knock off ANY support for terrorism, until he died under mysterious circumstances shortly before the invasion in 2003).
One of the things Nidal’s group did was highjack an American airliner in 1986 and murder a bunch of totally innocent people, including some American citizens.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_73
That’s an act of war against the United States, and we should have declared war against the terrorists (aka the Palestinians) and the Iraqi government the day it happened, instead of fiddling around for 17 years before we went after the Baathists, thus giving Nidal and other terrorists operating in Iraq, with the support of the Iraqi government, a chance to kill more innocent people. But, as the saying goes, better late than never.
It’s pointless going over this crap over and over again. Our war against Iraq is totally justified. Iraq committed endless acts of war against the United States and other nations, and the nation of Iraq is getting exactly what’s coming to it.
March 16th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Sunday Newswhip
Ahmadinejad Says Vote Defies the West. (Kinda looks like Wolf Blitzer back there voting, doesn’t it?) Photo: Conservatives Retain Control of Iran. Bet that Reuters guy liked writing that headline! As the News Junkie puts it: So many of my
March 16th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Condor: You’re kidding, right?
The Democrats’ argument is not winning. Polls continue to show improvement in public support, with some surveys now indicating a majority expecting an American victory. Americans are weary, but they’re not ready to quit. A majority categorically dismisses unconditional surrender, and a plurality wants to stay in Iraq until victory. I’ve written on this in numerous posts, and the data is out there if you check the various resources.
The big story this year is that the Dems are on the wrong side of the Iraq issue. They continue to push for withdrawal at precisely the time that a new strategy has paid off in security gains leading to political accomodation.
Crittenden’s absolutely correct.
March 16th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
I’m afraid you’re mistaken, Americaneocon. According to Gallop:
“With the five-year mark of the start of the Iraq war approaching, Gallup finds that 60% of Americans would like to see a timetable set for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, and 59% say the war was a mistake.”
http://www.gallup.com/video/104944/Majority-Americans-Want-Troops.aspx
March 16th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
“You don’t get to be the same again”
Render unto Caesar. Even as Papa Ratzi, the Pope who loves cats and Mozart, preached “Stop the massacres, the violence, the hatred in Iraq” during his weekly Angelus blessing to the crowds gathered in Saint Peter’s Square as Catholics celebrated
March 16th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
It is my understanding that the 9/11 conspiracy folks base their interesting theory at least partly on the initial reports given within minutes of the 9/11 attacks and now we see a media doing the same with the serious study of documents detailing Iraq’s kind of obvious and at the very least troubling ties to al Qaeda (referring to the Hayes piece). The media reports on the report before even reading it in any detail, Hayes reports. It’s too bad the conspiracy folks don’t read the Weekly Standard once in a while. Instead they get their news from Obama’s preacher.
March 18th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
[...] Jules Crittenden – Five Years On, roundup on five years in Iraq [...]