When losing is winning
Recently Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid stated that the war in Iraq is lost and it is impossible to win. He was talking in defense of the Congressional plan to put into spending authorizations a mandatory withdrawal date for US troops in Iraq. Putting aside the concept of Congress attempting to take the role of Commander in Chief upon themselves, let us ponder two issues that arise from this declaration.
First, let us examine the idea that the war is lost and we should start bringing the troops home starting in October. If this is true, then why should we wait until October? Why should we maintain any US troop in harms way for even a single day if the war is lost and unwinnable? Obviously it takes time to disengage from a conflict while in contact with the enemy, and it is the most difficult maneuver to accomplish successfully (to whit the withdrawal under fire from Viet Nam). Still, one wonders why we would delay the withdrawal until October with all troops to be gone in mid 2008 if we have lost and cannot win. What would we say to the families of those soldiers that die from now until October? Unless of course we are waiting to see if we can turn things around, but the proposed legislation offers no way of measuring success.
Which leads to the second question that arises from Senator Reid’s remarks. If we lose in Iraq, then who has won? In a war there are winners and losers. If we are the losers, then who are the winners? Logically it would appear that the two main forces that oppose us in Iraq would be the winners. One would be the forces of Islamic Jihad in the form of Al Qaeda, another would be the destabilizing forces in Iraq that want to grab what power they can for themselves. Theoretically there will be regional fallout but it is very difficult to foretell what the effect on Iran, Syria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and other countries would be from an Iraq that fell into chaos.
Coupling the two arguments and you get even more of a reason to withdraw right now. If we have lost and cannot win, then the sooner that we get out and allow the chaos to settle into whatever form it takes afterwards the better off we will be.
There is of course one other group that wins if the US looses in Iraq…and that would the the very group the Senator Reid speaks for.