Plan for victory, stay the course, surge, return on success
Let us review the stated objectives of the Iraq war chronologically:
2002: to disarm Saddam Hussein of stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction and create a breathing space for democracy in the Middle East (the WMDs were not there; the breathing space became anarchy).
2003: to allow chaos in order to create a “fly-paper” for every jihadist in the world to come and get slaughtered by the US (“Bring it on!”).
2004: to create a new democratic constitution (achieved on paper, but at the price of creating sectarian voting blocs that actually intensified the ethnic and religious divisions pulling the country apart).
2005: to protect Iraq from a powerful and growing Sunni insurgency and disarm the Shi’ite militias (failed).
2006: to quell surging sectarian violence, target a new and lethal Al-Qaeda in Iraq and restrain the passions unleashed by the bombing of the Samarra mosque (failed).
2007: to prevent genocide and a wider regional war and create enough peace for a settlement in the centre (the surge has reduced violence to levels of summer 2006, and no agreement in Baghdad has been reached
Tags: Bush, Bush's FUBAR War
The next line Sullivan wrote was the kicker.
“And so the question becomes: what will the objective of the Iraq war be next year?”
Lots of people learn from their mistakes. This administration continue to hold the course on a failing course time after time. We can only guess what failures are coming in the future, but success we can be sure is not in the picture.
Somebody should have read the label. The U.S. Military is a toy approved for children over the age of 12. Younger children should not be allowed to play with it. It’s dangerous. Sheesh