Iraq: Solutions or Political Gamemanship

Posted/Published on January 15, 2007

The choice in Iraq is starkly simple: withdrawal and defeat or commitment and victory.

Unsulled by blind ideology or complacency, thoughtful Americans understand there is never a straight line to success on the battlefield; that to win, tactics and strategies must continually evolve.

If the Prez's current or future strategy is flawed, it is incumbent upon patriotic detractors to clearly lay out their plans, their tactics, their strategy for success with as much specificity as they demand of the Prez.

And if withdrawal/"redeployment" is espoused, adherents to that strategy must specifically explain to Americans its implementation as well as its likely consequences. So far, the Prez's detractors, forever caught up in the insufferable tedium of worn-out talking points and political sniping, have been stunningly negligent and irresponsible on that score.

Hobbled by giddy idealism or knee-jerk anti-Americanism, other detractors simply want out at any price--surely a myopic formula for certain disaster.

When it comes to national security, neither detractors nor supporters of the Prez's policy should be given a free pass. Indeed, we should demand of them all substantive solutions which clearly advance America's national security interests and not merely their parochial political agendas.