« More Voices Like This, Please | Main | Iraq's Growing Impatience With Syria »
July 27, 2005
Iraq: The Real Measure Of Success
Writing from Iraq, Michael Yon reiterates a point that should be obvious: The frequency or deadliness of the suicide bombings is not a measure of success in Iraq. (Thanks to LGF)
The enemy in Iraq does not appear to be weakening; if anything, they are becoming smarter, more complicated and deadlier. But this does not mean they are winning; to imply that getting smarter and deadlier equates to winning, is fallacious. Most accounts of the situation in Iraq focus on enemy "successes" (if success is re-defined as annihiliation of civility), while redacting the increasing viability and strength of the Iraqi government, which clearly is outpacing the insurgency.
Emphases are mine.
It's been pointed out that the Baader-Meinhof gang kept all of West Germany on edge for a decade or so, with probably less than a hundred members. The Red Brigades, the IRA--these groups exploded bombs and killed innocent people for years (and the IRA is by far the largest with maybe a thousand members), yet no reasonable person can argue that the countries they operated in were failures, or in chaos, or were quagmires.
Yet the Democrats, not to mention those farther to the left, check the latest reports of car bombings and ambushes as trumpeted by the New York Times and declare that that the Iraq war is a failure, a "Vietnam". So why is there so little attention being paid to the massive counterbalancing factors: The functioning representative Iraqi government? The rebuilding of the infrastructure? The expansion of freedom and human rights?
"Progressives" of the world, where are you?
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.thebernoullieffect.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-t.cgi/257
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Iraq: The Real Measure Of Success:
» Some Hither, Some Yon... from Decision '08
The Bernoulli Effect talks about the measure of success in Iraq: guess what, folks, in the areas that count, we're winning... [Read More]
Tracked on July 28, 2005 08:32 AM
Comments
You have overlooked a few things in your analysis. A brief look into an accurate analysis of our own nation's history will highlght the quagmirocity we are currently experiencing over in Iraq. Allow me to shed some divine light:
1) Human rights are only valuable if they can be achieved with little effort and no cost. For example, the Civil War was a good effort because it ended slavery with no human casualties whatsoever. That's a good example of advocating for human rights as long as they don't cost us anything. Way to go Lincoln!
2) The war in Iraq has lasted substantially longer than any war in our history. For example, World War I, World War II, and even the Cold War all lasted only a few weeks. Look at Apartheid as well. The resistance to that only lasted a couple of months before they folded the cards on that. We should fight to free the good peoples of this world from oppression only if we can obtain our goals in a couple (or three at the most) months. Otherwise, it really starts to cut into our carefree lifestyle here in the U.S. I mean, I really don't need to have Survivor interrupted with another news report. Seriously, it's a good show. Have you seen it?
3) You mentioned how great the "functioning Iraqi government" is. Well, it sure is taking a long time, isn't it? I mean, we left the English Empire and established our own government in, like, a few weeks. The Constitution was the first document we drafted, and it was so perfect that we have never even needed to amend it. There were no constitutional documents in existence before The Constitution that had to be thrown out. What exactly is taking these Iraqis so long, anyway?
As you can see, Mr. Bernoulli, a firm grasp of history quickly dismantles your hastily assembled argument.
Posted by: Jim Voigt at July 27, 2005 01:42 PM
Oh well...I guess I'll just have to return to something I know--like cat-blogging. ;-)
Posted by: Jeff at July 27, 2005 11:26 PM
Ah Jim, your sarcasm can be so sarcastic. You should be ashamed of yourself for having an opinion that differs from liberals, because we know that they have a plan and a monopoly on truth.
Jeff: in a shameful display of self-promotion, I would like to invite you to drop by my blog for your insight and opinion. Right now, Jim is one of my only real defenders!
http://rantsandrefinements.blogspot.com/
I post one article per week. Please come and chime in (even if you disagree).
Posted by: The_Bad at July 28, 2005 01:05 AM
Human rights are only valuable if they can be achieved with little effort and no cost.
Even if it costs billions of dollars and thousands of lives, at least we've ensured safety and liberty for the Iraq people.
Now we just sit back and watch the dominos fall, gentlemen.
Posted by: jpe at July 28, 2005 11:45 AM
I see you're a fan of Dr. Kissinger!
Posted by: Jeff at July 28, 2005 01:37 PM
