Spring Break
No time to bluff about Iraq
Wes Heinkel
Issue date: 8/24/07 Section: Opinion
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It has been called many things: the least bad choice, the best worst option. It's reminiscent of going all in with a small pocket pair in a heads up game of Texas Hold 'Em. Your chips are dwindling but you still have enough to put decisive pressure on your opponent and maybe double-up. While pursuing your best interests, you make the call: "All in!"
The troop surge in Iraq is basically our low pocket pair and is more likely to fail than succeed, but the chances of success are neither impossible nor implausible.
Public support for President George W. Bush's surge policy is, to be kind, at a very low level. When talks of the troop surge began, many thought President Bush was living in some parallel universe where fish ride bicycles and no one was addicted to Facebook (don't act like you aren't).
However, in recent weeks the "surge" fomented by the administration has made significant gains, at least to the extent that the invaluable and priceless New York Times even felt obligated to admit marginal success in the editorial titled, "We just might win."
I couldn't believe it - the NY Times admitting that America may be doing something right. So before the Democratic Congress legislates defeat or micromanages the war from the Capitol, we as Americans need to sincerely and prudently discuss the implications of a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.
Right now, Ambassador Ryan Crocker and General David Patreaus - who have shown great competency and realism in the theater of war - are asking the administration and American citizens for "strategic patience."
For once in this God-forsaken and horribly managed war, which is responsible for the affliction of 27 million Iraqis and the deaths of many American soldiers (to whom we offer our sincerest respect and gratitude), let's listen to our commanders. Let's listen to the men who have made it their profession to wage war.
We must all come to the realization that the result of an American withdrawal or defeat in Iraq has catastrophic consequences - most notably, as predicted by many experts, a humanitarian disaster consisting of genocide, ethnic-cleansing, bloodlettings, oppression and a zero-sum game of survival - all the finest aspects of the human condition.
The troop surge in Iraq is basically our low pocket pair and is more likely to fail than succeed, but the chances of success are neither impossible nor implausible.
Public support for President George W. Bush's surge policy is, to be kind, at a very low level. When talks of the troop surge began, many thought President Bush was living in some parallel universe where fish ride bicycles and no one was addicted to Facebook (don't act like you aren't).
However, in recent weeks the "surge" fomented by the administration has made significant gains, at least to the extent that the invaluable and priceless New York Times even felt obligated to admit marginal success in the editorial titled, "We just might win."
I couldn't believe it - the NY Times admitting that America may be doing something right. So before the Democratic Congress legislates defeat or micromanages the war from the Capitol, we as Americans need to sincerely and prudently discuss the implications of a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.
Right now, Ambassador Ryan Crocker and General David Patreaus - who have shown great competency and realism in the theater of war - are asking the administration and American citizens for "strategic patience."
For once in this God-forsaken and horribly managed war, which is responsible for the affliction of 27 million Iraqis and the deaths of many American soldiers (to whom we offer our sincerest respect and gratitude), let's listen to our commanders. Let's listen to the men who have made it their profession to wage war.
We must all come to the realization that the result of an American withdrawal or defeat in Iraq has catastrophic consequences - most notably, as predicted by many experts, a humanitarian disaster consisting of genocide, ethnic-cleansing, bloodlettings, oppression and a zero-sum game of survival - all the finest aspects of the human condition.
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