A lot of people in Washington DC are regurgitating talking points regarding Iraq today. So why not join in?
There’s plenty of debate regarding “victory” or “winning” in Iraq. What do those words mean?
Here’s my definition:
America will be on the path toward success in Iraq when we are able to remove a substantial number of American troops (more than 50%) without the country descending into chaos.
Five years into the conflict and I’m still waiting to see signs that we are anywhere close to victory.
I think we have already achieved success in Iraq. We “liberated” the country from a tyrant. We scoured the country to prove Iraq doesn’t have any weapon’s of mass destruction and so helped the world breathe a sigh of relief. We stayed long enough to let the Iraqi government be established, and we paid dearly for this. We also helped the Iraqis become financially independent. They now have a surplus.
So what is everyone talking about when they define success? Some kind of fantasy idea of a perfect union gushing with love for American style democrcy? A massive conversion perhaps where huge crowds suffer baptism by immersion into a Christian faith? A unified country with the different sects embracing each other in undying olve and loyalty? A county strong enough to defend itself against all comers? Yeah, dream on. That will take every bit of McCain’s imagined 100 year long effort and more. We have achieved enough success. Let’s turn our attention and out tax dollars now to helping the ravaged nation we care most about–America.