contact
Main
Contact Me

about
About RightWing NutHouse

Site Stats

blog radio



Amazon Honor System Click Here to Pay Learn More

testimonials

"Brilliant"
(Romeo St. Martin of Politics Watch-Canada)

"The epitome of a blogging orgasm"
(Cao of Cao's Blog)

"Rick Moran is one of the finest essayists in the blogosphere. ‘Nuff said. "
(Dave Schuler of The Glittering Eye)

archives
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004

search



blogroll

A CERTAIN SLANT OF LIGHT
ABBAGAV
ACE OF SPADES
ALPHA PATRIOT
AM I A PUNDIT NOW
AMERICAN FUTURE
AMERICAN THINKER
ANCHORESS
AND RIGHTLY SO
ANDREW OLMSTED
ANKLEBITING PUNDITS
AREOPAGITICA
ATLAS SHRUGS
BACKCOUNTRY CONSERVATIVE
BASIL’S BLOG
BEAUTIFUL ATROCITIES
BELGRAVIA DISPATCH
BELMONT CLUB
BETSY’S PAGE
Blacksmiths of Lebanon
Blogs of War
BLUEY BLOG
BRAINSTERS BLOG
BUZZ MACHINE
CANINE PUNDIT
CAO’S BLOG
CAPTAINS QUARTERS
CATHOUSE CHAT
CHRENKOFF
CINDY SHEEHAN WATCH
Classical Values
Cold Fury
COMPOSITE DRAWLINGS
CONSERVATHINK
CONSERVATIVE THINK
CONTENTIONS
DAVE’S NOT HERE
DEANS WORLD
DICK McMICHAEL
Diggers Realm
DR. SANITY
E-CLAIRE
EJECT! EJECT! EJECT!
ELECTRIC VENOM
ERIC’S GRUMBLES BEFORE THE GRAVE
ESOTERICALLY.NET
FAUSTA’S BLOG
FLIGHT PUNDIT
FOURTH RAIL
FRED FRY INTERNATIONAL
GALLEY SLAVES
GATES OF VIENNA
HEALING IRAQ
http://blogcritics.org/
HUGH HEWITT
IMAO
INDEPUNDIT
INSTAPUNDIT
IOWAHAWK
IRAQ THE MODEL
JACKSON’S JUNCTION
JO’S CAFE
JOUST THE FACTS
KING OF FOOLS
LASHAWN BARBER’S CORNER
LASSOO OF TRUTH
LIBERTARIAN LEANINGS
LITTLE GREEN FOOTBALLS
LITTLE MISS ATTILA
LIVE BREATHE AND DIE
LUCIANNE.COM
MAGGIE’S FARM
MEMENTO MORON
MESOPOTAMIAN
MICHELLE MALKIN
MIDWEST PROGNOSTICATOR
MODERATELY THINKING
MOTOWN BLOG
MY VAST RIGHT WING CONSPIRACY
mypetjawa
NaderNow
Neocon News
NEW SISYPHUS
NEW WORLD MAN
Northerncrown
OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY
PATRIOTIC MOM
PATTERICO’S PONTIFICATIONS
POLIPUNDIT
POLITICAL MUSINGS
POLITICAL TEEN
POWERLINE
PRO CYNIC
PUBLIUS FORUM
QUESTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS
RACE42008
RADICAL CENTRIST
Ravenwood’s Universe
RELEASE THE HOUNDS
RIGHT FROM LEFT
RIGHT VOICES
RIGHT WING NEWS
RIGHTFAITH
RIGHTWINGSPARKLE
ROGER L. SIMON
SHRINKRAPPED
Six Meat Buffet
Slowplay.com
SOCAL PUNDIT
SOCRATIC RYTHM METHOD
STOUT REPUBLICAN
TERRORISM UNVEILED
TFS MAGNUM
THE ART OF THE BLOG
THE BELMONT CLUB
The Conservative Cat
THE DONEGAL EXPRESS
THE LIBERAL WRONG-WING
THE LLAMA BUTCHERS
THE MAD PIGEON
THE MODERATE VOICE
THE PATRIETTE
THE POLITBURO DIKTAT
THE PRYHILLS
THE RED AMERICA
THE RESPLENDENT MANGO
THE RICK MORAN SHOW
THE SMARTER COP
THE SOAPBOX
THE STRATA-SPHERE
THE STRONG CONSERVATIVE
THE SUNNYE SIDE
THE VIVID AIR
THOUGHTS ONLINE
TIM BLAIR
TRANSATLANTIC INTELLIGENCER
TRANSTERRESTRIAL MUSINGS
TYGRRRR EXPRESS
VARIFRANK
VIKING PUNDIT
VINCE AUT MORIRE
VODKAPUNDIT
WALLO WORLD
WIDE AWAKES
WIZBANG
WUZZADEM
ZERO POINT BLOG


recentposts


CONSERVATIVES BEWITCHED, BOTHERED, AND BEWILDERED

WHY I NO LONGER ALLOW COMMENTS

IS JOE THE PLUMBER FAIR GAME?

TIME TO FORGET MCCAIN AND FIGHT FOR THE FILIBUSTER IN THE SENATE

A SHORT, BUT PIQUANT NOTE, ON KNUCKLEDRAGGERS

THE RICK MORAN SHOW: STATE OF THE RACE

BLACK NIGHT RIDERS TERRORIZING OUR POLITICS

HOW TO STEAL OHIO

IF ELECTED, OBAMA WILL BE MY PRESIDENT

MORE ON THOSE “ANGRY, RACIST GOP MOBS”

REZKO SINGING: OBAMA SWEATING?

ARE CONSERVATIVES ANGRIER THAN LIBERALS?

OBAMA IS NOT A SOCIALIST

THE NINE PERCENTERS

THE RICK MORAN SHOW: MCCAIN’S GETTYSBURG

AYERS-OBAMA: THE VOTERS DON’T CARE

THAT SINKING FEELING

A DEATH IN THE FAMILY

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY INSANE: THE MOTHER OF ALL BIDEN GAFFES

PALIN PROVED SHE BELONGS

A FRIEND IN NEED

THE RICK MORAN SHOW: VP DEBATE PREVIEW

FAITH OF OUR FATHERS

‘Unleash’ Palin? Get Real

‘OUTRAGE FATIGUE’ SETTING IN


categories

"24" (96)
ABLE DANGER (10)
Bird Flu (5)
Blogging (200)
Books (10)
CARNIVAL OF THE CLUELESS (68)
Caucasus (1)
CHICAGO BEARS (32)
CIA VS. THE WHITE HOUSE (28)
Cindy Sheehan (13)
Decision '08 (290)
Election '06 (7)
Ethics (173)
Financial Crisis (8)
FRED! (28)
General (378)
GOP Reform (23)
Government (123)
History (166)
Homeland Security (8)
IMMIGRATION REFORM (21)
IMPEACHMENT (1)
Iran (81)
IRAQI RECONCILIATION (13)
KATRINA (27)
Katrina Timeline (4)
Lebanon (8)
Marvin Moonbat (14)
Media (184)
Middle East (134)
Moonbats (80)
NET NEUTRALITY (2)
Obama-Rezko (14)
OBAMANIA! (73)
Olympics (5)
Open House (1)
Palin (6)
PJ Media (37)
Politics (651)
Presidential Debates (7)
RNC (1)
S-CHIP (1)
Sarah Palin (1)
Science (45)
Space (21)
Sports (2)
SUPER BOWL (7)
Supreme Court (24)
Technology (1)
The Caucasus (1)
The Law (14)
The Long War (7)
The Rick Moran Show (127)
UNITED NATIONS (15)
War on Terror (330)
WATCHER'S COUNCIL (117)
WHITE SOX (4)
Who is Mr. Hsu? (7)
Wide Awakes Radio (8)
WORLD CUP (9)
WORLD POLITICS (74)
WORLD SERIES (16)


meta

Admin Login
Register
Valid XHTML
XFN







credits


Design by:


Hosted by:


Powered by:
10/6/2006
LOSING MOMENTUM IN IRAQ ISN’T THE PROBLEM

In a rather plaintive post, Glenn Reynolds bemoans the loss of “momentum” in the Iraq War , wishing to “take the war to our enemies.” rather than “sitting on our bayonets.” He believes that the way to recapture the advantage is by going after the foreign support given the insurgency and that perhaps it is time to “revive the pre-emptive war” strategy and take the war to Iran and Syria.

I had to blink and shake my head after reading what Mr. Reynolds wrote. Was he perhaps stuck in some kind of time warp, believing that it is 2004? The idea that any kind of momentum is possible to recapture – or that we ever had it in the first place – is an illusion. And how we can win in Iraq by widening the war to include the two strongest regional powers arrayed against us is, well, mind boggling.

I have become disenchanted of late with Greg Djerjian and his spiteful, hateful, personal attacks on Mr. Reynolds, Hugh Hewitt, Richard Fernandez, and others bloggers and commenters (Mark Steyn being a particular foil for Mr. Djerjian’s over-the-top barbs and rifled bric-a-brats). His disdain for the President and his advisors – unbalanced in my opinion – makes him a bore to read at times.

However Djerjian also offers clarity on many issues relating to Iraq and the War on Terror. And if there is one thing that he has been harping on for many months that rings true above all others is the crazy idea that taking the war to Iran and Syria is going to help the situation in Iraq.

The fallout from an attack on Iran would be especially suicidal. The Iranian backed militias in Iraq would almost certainly take up arms and challenge the Americans, complicating an already desperate situation enormously. And it would be expected that the Iranians would retaliate against our troops with rocket attacks from their stockpiles of long range missiles. And what of the delicate political dance al-Maliki is currently undertaking in his efforts to reform the police and army whose inaction allows Shia death squads to operate with impunity?

As for Syria, while Bashar Assad imperfectly implements our demands that he close off the border to foreign fighters entering Iraq, an attack will actually make the situation worse as he would be under no obligation to continue even the limited cooperation he has shown up to now.

Perhaps most importantly, we might want to ask what form our momentum establishing attacks would take? Would we initiate ground operations against the Iranian army? The Syrians? What would be the goals of such attacks? To punish? To interdict?

Punishment may make us all feel better but would hardly affect the efforts of either two countries to supply the insurgency in Iraq. As for interdiction of men and supplies, only more troops and vigilance on the borders can have an effect on the steady dribble of arms and terrorists that end up aiding the insurgents. A truck here and a bus there moving through a poorly guarded border crossing or making their way through the vast deserts of Iraq make poor targets for any kind of large scale military action.

As we know now (blessed with 20/20 hindsight), the egregious mistakes and numerous blunders by both civilian and military authorities that have led us to our current perilous position in Iraq were made in the context of false assumptions, wishful thinking, and a lack of understanding of the nature of the enemy. It just seems to me to be the height of stupidity to believe that we can improve what’s happening on the ground in Iraq by attacking Iran and Syria.

By: Rick Moran at 4:40 pm
12 Responses to “LOSING MOMENTUM IN IRAQ ISN’T THE PROBLEM”
  1. 1
    steve sturm Said:
    5:21 pm 

    The reason we are not ‘winning’ in Iraq is simple: we don’t want to win enough… and by that I mean that we’re not doing what it really takes to win.

    We have our troops fighting with one hand tied behind their back, we let Syria and Iran get away with destabilizing the area, and so on.

    The concerns you raise about dealing with Iran exemplify the half-way approach. Sure, if you try to deal with Iran and Syria part-way, they have the ability to screw things up. Show them we’re serious, really serious, and surprise, surprise, they’ll cease – one way or the other – being a problem.

  2. 2
    Mark H. Said:
    5:27 pm 

    Ever since the 3rd day of the war when the troops ran into a sandstorm and sat around for a couple of days, the MSM has been continually calling the effort a quagmire. About every 13-14 months the conservatives and/or other supporters of the effort fall into despair against the relentless tide of negativism, then recover as they reengage their brains, though the lag time before that reengagement grows longer each time and I suppose one of these times they’ll go over permanently (as has Greg D.) rather than slap themselves up side the head and recall it’s the MSM that causing their skewed outlook.

    This, however, doesn’t mean we’re losing, it doesn’t mean that we’d be doing better if we started with 500,000 or 1,000,000 troops (as the potential unintended consequences of that tactic are never discussed to any degree) that is always trotted out confidently by the detractors. Let us remember that the “retired” generals either didn’t speak up when it counted, or were overruled by other opinions, but now feel emboldened to criticize from the safety of their pension and talking head fee financed armchairs.

    Were mistakes made? Are they still? Sure, this war should be different than any other in the history of mankind? Did we do the right thing, for the right reasons (plural)? Yes. That’s all we need to know as far as that goes. So now, if all of the loudest critics would shut up in public and offer cogent ideas to the current leadership in private, perhaps a melding of ideas will create better and faster results.

    But mouthing off in public to clueless TV anchors is counterproductive to our success—no one of stature in the administration is going to tune in cable news and stroke their chin at the wisdom of shout matches between partisans refereed by clowns. The enemy sure eats that crap up though and the average Iraqi citizen is more than disconcerted by the “cut and run” tactic so often forwarded as the only way to “win.”

    So, gimmee a break, lets get this thing won and stop all the undermining.

  3. 3
    Geek, Esq. Said:
    6:25 pm 

    Momentum? What does he think this is—a basketball game?

    An unserious argument by unserious minds.

  4. 4
    Drewsmom Said:
    5:55 am 

    I’m just a dumb blonde middle age woman, but I think we are losing in Iraq…. we are losing cuz our guys have been caught there fighting a pc war against the dems and other countries, not against the terrorists… these two have made it very hard on us to kick the ass of the enemy in the right way.
    I think its time for our guys to all come home, we need to regroup and defend our own borders in mexico and canada and our intelligence needs to get sharper than a major tac.
    I think we outta sanction the hell outta Iran and it sounds like finally the other countries at least agree with that.
    The Iraq people are gonna have to fight it out amoung each other, the recent poll there seems to show they want us gone, so be it, no more Americans to protect their whiney butts, we tried so let the nuts kill each other off. We do have ways to find out if there are training camps there and they start that up I say send a big ass bomb and destroy the friggin camps.
    I love our troops and they did their best, they just could not beat the moonbat dems, human rights guys who wanna give the enemy more comfort than our guys, the aclu, I could go on and on, just think its time for ALL OF MILITARY TO COME HOME.
    THEY FOUGHT THE GOOD FIGHT BUT NOBODY CAN FIGHT AGAINST THS MUCH HOME RESISTANCE.
    MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON US ALL AND KEEP OUR COUNTRY SAFE.

  5. 5
    Doug Ross @ Journal Trackbacked With:
    8:35 am 

    Democrats and the strength of their convictions

    “Congressman Rangel, if Democrats regain power in 2006, will you consider extending any of the President’s tax cuts?”

  6. 6
    Redhand Said:
    8:37 am 

    The blind leading the blind is the way I see it.

    The first blind one is Rumsfeld, who is congenitially incapable of listening to his military advisors when their opinions conflict with his entrenched, invariably wrong don’t-bother-me-with-the-facts opinions.

    The second blind one is Bush, who for reasons of pathologically misplaced “loyalty,” or sheer dumb-as-nails stupidity, refuses to fire Rumsfeld. He has “confidence” in him, which is to say that Bush has abrogated his duty as Commander-in-Chief because he is clueless what to do.

    I can’t say that I have a solution, at this late stage, but then again I didn’t get us into this mess. Rumsfeld was right about taking Bagdad with minimal forces when the war started, but he has been wrong about virtually everything else in this conflict since then. He should have been fired years ago. Now it may be too late.

  7. 7
    Johnny Tremaine Said:
    1:48 pm 

    Rick is right, to launch wars on Syria and Iran would require a large troop mobilization and larger expenditures, both of which are in short supply. The conceit that we could accomplish regime change in either country by just air power alone has been proven wrong, as shown this past Summer by the Israeli attempt to eliminate Hezbollah by, initially, only air strikes. Add to this the fact that President Bush has about two years left in office, and the chance for a wider war is unlikely.
    Another thing, the problems in Iraq seem to be more than just Al-Qaeda terrorists and the militias. From reading today’s papers, the situation in Kirkuk is also deteriorating and a curfew established due to tit for tat private army attacks battling over who’s going to control the oil. Translation, we’re fighting multiple ‘wars’ in Iraq.
    And can we please do away with the canard that the reason for our difficulty in Iraq is because of the Left and the media? If you seriously consider the media and the home front a larger enemy than the jihadis, then well, you’ve got personal issues that even Rick’s site can’t help you with.

  8. 8
    Drewsmom Said:
    7:55 am 

    tremaine:
    If this war was about oil we’d be awash with it and the prices would not have gone up …. get real ….. the left and the media are messing with Iraq like they did in Nam …. wake up, get your head outta the sand and smell the blood, our blood if we all don’t get a grip …... these guys are islamofacists who wanta get over here to kill us and dems and media are simply making it easier for em and IT DISGUSTS ME TO NO END.!!

  9. 9
    Quilly Mammoth Said:
    10:17 am 

    If history is our guide, and it should be, it isn’t remarkable that there comes a time when we look back at the campaign and see the errors and blunders made. It happens in every war, to every side. The winner is the one that can redirect the fight; the axiom that no plan survives contact being true.

    But you can’t tell that to some people.

    For example, The Belgravia Dispatches that you cite:

    Just when you think your capacity to be surprised by some blunder or mishap committed by this Administration has reached some sad apex—so that your ability to get dumbfounded anew has just plain maxed out—you are left sadly awestruck by the sheer scale of the bollixing yet again. I’m reading Tom Rick’s “Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq” and stumbled across this gem about confusion…

    Now this is a great example of war blockheadedness that I have recently read, and it emblematic of the problem with war critics of whatever stripe. They expected things to be perfect. Variations of Stoopid Chimpy McBusHitler that revel in ddeaspair on how screwed up things were…endlessly. And they provide little or no cognitive plan for making things better.

    Far more points are scored by bashing the Administration than in actually recognizing that mistakes wre made, we can;t afford to lose, and we need to go forward. It’s called putting on the Big Boy Pants in dealing with reality. And few indeed are teh war critics who have them on. Instead, looking at history as my guide, I see the Athenians censuring yet another victorious general who didn’t win big enough or fast enough.

  10. 10
    Rick Moran Said:
    10:24 am 

    QM:

    I generally agree that war critics demonstrate a lack of ideas for how to turn the situation around.

    THe problem is that it is very possible that Iraq is not salvagable at this point. Partly due to our blunders but also a result of the history of the country and of the middle east. There literally is nothing we can do save keep training the Iraqi army and police while planning for a quick exit.

    Hindsight suggests that there were errors made at the beginning that led us to this point. Certainly part of that was an inability by Rumsfeld, Cheney, and the President to recognize the nature of the insurgency and work in non military ways to confront it.

    Too late now…

  11. 11
    Johnny Tremaine Said:
    8:06 pm 

    Drewsmom,
    Where in my post did I say that it was about oil? I challenge you to find the word ‘oil’ in my entire post. You’re even assuming I was against the initial war; I wasn’t. But the assumption that widening the conflict to the surrounding nations will improve the situation in Iraq is faulty logic.
    Anyway, the argument is moot. Realpolitik is the order of the day, if Woodward’s latest book is to be believed. Apparently the Bush White House is now heavily consulting with Henry Kissinger and Co. on how to proceed in Iraq.

  12. 12
    Bruce Manrose Said:
    8:07 am 

    Great post!

    Worse, having the Army there is a catalyst there for terrorists, and bringing them out of the woodwork. It’s creating new ones.
    Going regional will only exacerbate this situation.

    Note to Mark H: Did we do the right thing, for the right reasons (plural)? No, we did the wrong thing for the wrong reasons.
    Maybe the intentions were good, but that’s not enough. It’s amazing how many Bushees are in denial and need a 12 step program, and fast.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

The URI to Trackback this entry:
http://rightwingnuthouse.com/archives/2006/10/06/losing-momentum-in-iraq-isnt-the-problem/trackback/

Leave a comment