October 12, 2008
Fools, tools etc.
My post last week, Fooling with tools, inspired a comment by Michael Lonie that Meryl wisely turned into a full post, The whys, not lies, of the Iraq War. My intent was to point out the hollowness of Sen. Obama's association of the war in Iraq with 9/11. It was nothing more than a straw man. I'll admit that my response wasn't comprehensive, but this post is. I thought that this aspect of Michael's comment was especially good.
The Iraq Campaign also gave the US the opportunity to fight the jihadists on grounds of our own choosing. Geographically we could fight them in the Middle East instead of in New York. Tactically we could pit skilled US soldiers and Marines against them, instead of relying on unarmed airline stewardesses and passengers to do the fighting. Strategically it allowed us to seize the initiative from the jihadists, to make them react to our moves rather than we to their's. Taking the initiative away from the enemy is always important in winning a war.
The Democrats have been trying to wrest the issues of Iraq and he war on terror away from the Republicans in a variety of different ways. This is as excellent argument against those efforts. But by all mean, read the whole thing.
Posted by SoccerDad at October 12, 2008 10:03 AM
Not a good 90 day bet
Making the political personal
Recent jewish blogging 111510
Oh, that historic compromise
Bibi: tom's frequent non-flier
Just like tom friedman greens
Happier times for Happy Meals?
Mediterranean conference cancelled on account of cooties
The day the anniversary died
wow, there are still people out there making this lame argument? the jihadists were in afghanistan, why not take it to them where they actually were? why wage war in a third party country to draw them in when all we had to do was go into afghanistan? we were already there, there would have been far fewer civilian deaths, and besides, it is a moral outrage to use a country uninvolved in the conflict to settle our battles. is it so hard for you to admit the iraq wasr was a horrible mistake that you grasp at such straws? damn
Posted by: Zach at October 13, 2008 12:32 AMThe Bush administration did take the war to Afghanistan. And when it thought that Iraq also posed a threat it fought against Iraq. They weren't mutually exclusive.
In the end the jihadists bet on Iraq and lost big time.
Was the war run perfectly? Obviously not. But that does not by itself make it wrong.
Posted by: soccer dad at October 13, 2008 3:26 PM