Talking Ourselves into Defeat
Last Fall I foresaw the danger of talking ourselves into defeat in Iraq, a danger that no one against the war truly recognizes. Now the sentiment is captured in this editorial by the WSJ:
Our slide to a national nervous breakdown because of Iraq is not going unnoticed. Australia’s foreign minister, Alexander Downer, has been visiting across the U.S. this week. “I’ve been pretty worried about what I’ve heard,” Mr. Downer said in an interview. Walking on Santa Monica beach Sunday before last, Mr. Downer said he encountered a display of crosses in the sand, representing the American dead in Iraq.“What concerns me about this,” he said, “is that it’s sort of an isolationist sentiment, subconsciously, not consciously, and that would be an enormous problem for the world. I hope the American people understand the importance of not retreating and thinking the world’s problems aren’t theirs.”
Hat tip: Dean Esmay.
John Brodey:
Defeat? Sorry, this isn’t the War of 1812. Unfortunately it’s not even Viet Nam. What constitutes a victory? No one in the admin. has ever defined what a victory looks like except in the beginning when it was described as the removal of Saddam.
2 April 2007, 2:13 pmTo think that our presence there will defeat terrorism or secure a peaceful future for Iraq is either a liberal idealist or someone who knows nothing of the region’s history.