A Knight in Dragonland

My views on the War on Terror and the War in Iraq have been attacked quite virulently both here and in other places. Well, here’s some validation of what I’ve been saying from an officer in the 101st Airborne Division returning from Iraq after serving in Baghdad and Samarra.

Money quote:

The future of Samarra, and Iraq as a whole, ultimately lies in the hands of her people–their sympathies are the ultimate prize in this war.

Sympathies … hearts & minds … however you want to phrase it, it’s the same idea. If we’re really dedicated to making things right in Iraq, we need to massively increase the number of troops there in order to provide zones of safety and security so that the Iraqis can start rebuilding their lives. Into these zones would flow money for reconstruction. Providing the necessary troops would likely require a draft since our active duty, reserve & National Guard forces are already stretched to the limit. We should be honest with the American people and tell them that this will require AT LEAST a ten year commitment. It would also require that the Bush administration admit (the truth) that they’ve been f#$king around with the lives of our soldiers for the last 4 years. That’s not likely to happen.

Barring that, we should just get out – redeploy to the Gulf and Afghanistan. In Texas Hold’em terminology, we should go all in or fold – at least as far as Iraq is concerned. Whatever we do, we need to make a choice. The current half-assed commitment is costing American & Iraqi lives every day.

Not what you were expecting? My problem with the Iraq War is that we never should have gone there in the first place – that our attention should have remained focused on Afghanistan and finishing the job there. Now we’re under China Shop Rules. We broke it, so we bought it. Now we have to fix it – Iraq & Afghanistan both.

Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan