Iraqi Surge: some things cost what they cost

I have to admit my main objection to continuing the war in Iraq is that the only thing worse than pulling out is to continue the war with George W. Bush calling the shots. I think pulling out will be catastrophic, but losing in the long-run is assured as long as America will neither conduct serious diplomatic efforts to end the civil war there or supply enough troops to actually control the territory on which our forces our deployed.

"Controlling the territory on which it is deployed" is actually the real purpose of the Army. Ignore the increasingly publicized body counts and other benchmarks of success until the territory is under control. It's not. And that's why this surge is so ridiculous, because it won't accomplish that--22,000 more wasn't enough when this started and it's far too few now.

Suppose you go to the store to buy a candy bar to share with your friends. The price is $1.00 and you go in with a quarter. You argue with the clerk, but he won't sell. After serious reflection, you go home, smash your penny bank, and decide you can only part with a quarter more. You go back to the store the next day with fifty cents. But that stubborn clerk still won't sell you a candy bar! Obviously he must hate you and all you stand for--that's it: he hates your freedom.

You go back to your friends and say, "Oh well, at least I tried. I even DOUBLED my efforts. But it's all that mean clerk's fault for not selling to me when I did all I could." Heck, maybe you even get together with your pals and graffiti tag the store or egg the windows. Why not? He's got it coming, right? Maybe the clerk's name is Maliki?

That's what this surge is all about--a too little, too late effort, which even W. must know is doomed but which gives him a good story to tell about how hard he tried. If Democrats oppose the surge, he can even try blaming the inevitable failure of his policies on them.

Want to win in Iraq? It'll take a couple hundred thousand more troops at this point, now that Iraqis on the street hate us for the years of hell they've been through. But with recruitment down and "stop loss" the only thing keeping our existing units full, the only option is a draft. (Start with the membership of the College Republicans, IMHO.) But even proposing a draft has political costs, which the four-flushing G. W. Bush is the master at ducking.

But regardless of your position on a draft, I doubt most folks--hawks or doves--are any more likely to trust W. with the lives of draftees than they would be to trust him to bring back that candy bar. That leaves withdrawal as the only serious option on the table. That is, unless we get serious about impeachment. . .