Endgames cannot come too soon in Iraq
Tuesday, September 13, 2005 at 6:53PM ■"Iraqis Take Lead in a Battle For a Key Rebel Stronghold: Attack Came at Request of Local Leaders," by Robert F. Worth, New York Times, 11 September 2005, p. A10.
■"American Envoy Says Syria Assists Training of Terrorists: Claiming that insurgents find a haven west of Iraq," by Joel Brinkley, New York Times, 13 September 2005, p. A6.
■"Army Expects To Miss Goals For Recruiting," by AP, New York Times, 13 September 2005, p. A24.
Expect to see the Iraqi Army taking the lead more and more as the Sunni Triangle gets squeezed in coming months.
Defense Minister and Sunni Sadoun Dulaimi says, "We tell our people everywhere, Ramadi, Samarra, Rawa and Qaim, that we are coming."
As the Iraqi forces start this broad push to clean up the Triangle in coming months, augmented by U.S. airpower and troops, watch for the U.S. to put increasing heat on Syria to close down that Cambodia-like sanctuary it's providing.
Of course, none of this will stop Washington wags from joking, "The war is over and Iran won." Of course, after WWII these same weiners said, "The war is over and the Russians won." And after Korea they said, "The war is over and China won." And after Vietnam they said, "The war is over and North Vietnam won (they were right about that one)." And after the Cold War they said, "The war is over and Japan won." And after the next war rest assured these same smart-asses will claim we lost.
And you know why we "lose" all these wars? Because we're a good and kind country that tries to do its best for all involved and on that basis we always seem to "lose" for winning.
I like belonging to that country. I've seen the alternative.
Anyway, the prominence of the Iraqi military and security forces can't come a moment too soon. We are breaking the Army and Reserve Component with this rotation.
Next time, we need to lock in some major Core cooperation on the SysAdmin stuff beforehand. Trust me, the military will be ready. The only question is whether the White House and whoever lives there will be ready--and willing.
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