More importantly, our troops must be confident that we ask them to die for nothing less than victory.
So I'm glad that the President loudly proclaimed we will win in Iraq:
President Bush was right to declare yesterday in Latvia that he will not withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq until the “mission is complete” because “we can accept nothing less than victory for our children and our grandchildren.” It appears Bush’s characteristic Texas stubbornness is the only thing standing between victory and the U.S. defeat that has all but been proclaimed by Washington’s foreign policy establishment and its friends in the mainstream media like “60 Minutes” reporter Lara Logan. She insisted in her weekend interview with Gen. John Abizaid that “managing the defeat” is America’s only option.
It is to be hoped that Bush’s main target with yesterday’s declaration was his father’s former Secretary of State, James Baker, head of the soon-to-be-sainted Iraq Study Group. The ISG is widely reported to be preparing a recommendation that Bush seek the aid of Iran and Syria in resolving the war in Iraq. Iran and Syria may be U.S. opponents, but they have a common interest with us in establishing a stable regime in Baghdad, we are told by the Foggy Bottom Realpolitikers and the media experts for whom NBC’s decision to call it a civil war represents a “Cronkite Moment.”
I don't recall Bosnia or Kosovo being described as a "civil war" to justify inaction in the 1990s. I seem to remember hearing the Officially Concerned demand action in the civil war of Sudan. Really, this is all about promoting our defeat and not linguistic purity.
Luckily, neither Matt Lauer nor Lara Logan are Walter Cronkite.
Tell Baker and his buddies Logan and Lauer to take a hike.
And then let's get on with the serious business of killing our enemies.
