Demoralizing?

Congressional Democrats are taking to the airwaves in droves these days to claim they support the troops (when they aren't saying they're being wasted) and want them to have everything they need. Somehow, I have my doubts.

One of the clear lessons of the Vietnam conflict was the necessity to hold areas after they had been cleared of guerilla forces. General Petraeus knows this and crafted a plan to address previous strategic shortcomings in Iraq. By establishing security, we allow the Iraqi government to mature and stability to return. One need only compare the post-bellum histories of South Korea and Vietnam. In one case we stayed and brought freedom and prosperity. In the other, we left and millions died. The Democrat leadership knows this as well, thus the lack of opposition to Petraeus' confirmation.

The Democrats told us for months and months that we should have more boots on the ground in Iraq to establish security. In the face of electoral validation that change is needed, the President orders just that. Suddenly what was absolutely vital just short weeks ago is now an anathema and we absolutely must not send more troops into the theater. Non-binding resolutions are written in both houses expressing that sentiment, yet when it comes to a binding vote, the Democrat leadership runs for the hills, after unanimously confirming the architect of the new plan to command its execution.

We are asked to believe that these objections are undertaken for the purest of motives and that they cannot possibly embolden our enemies or undermine the morale of our troops. This, despite our enemies openly saying that they know we cannot be defeated militarily and their cause must be won by wearing down our will to proceed. Our troops know this, yet see their Democrat controlled Congress debating the utility of their mission. The message to both groups is clear; the government's will to continue is crumbling. This clearly encourages our foes and inevitably results in more violence against our forces and the Iraqi people.

This leads to the inevitable conclusion that the current Democrat objections are based solely on opposition to the President and not on actual policy grounds. This blatant politicization of a war clearly in our long term interest is beneath the party that defeated fascism. It is beyond hope that the Democrats will put their enmity aside, but we certainly can hope that the voting public sees the mistake that was made by putting them in charge.

A Quick Question

Has anyone seen much mention of the fact the 18 year old shooter in yesterday's Utah mall rampage was a bosniak muslim refugee?

I didn't think so.

I wonder what they'll find on his computer.

1994 + 13

I'm not a triskaidekaphobic, but there is something ominous in the new six party agreement following the Agreed Framework by thirteen years. The Korea Times has the full text of the new Denuclearization Agreement here. Perhaps I'm just being pessimistic, but I don't see this as a win for anyone other than the North Koreans. For someone to beleive that the DPRK is capable of negotiating in good faith, it's necessary to forget the Joint Statement of 19 September 2005, in which they committed to abandoning all nuclear weapons, and the similar commitment from the Agreed Framework to remain within the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

Once again our foreign policy establishment seems to beleive that any agreement is a good agreement.

Reagan would have left the table.

James S. Robbins says it much better than I at NRO.

Intentions

I'm one of the bad people, a barbarian if you will. One of the one's the nice people wish would go away, the one's who are skeptical of other people's motives, the one's who think about what could go wrong, the ones who are willing to resort to violence.

My outlook is decidedly conservative. I approach the world with the hope that people behave themselves, but with the knowledge that some of them won't.

This blog will consider some of the things going right with the world, as well as some of those that aren't. I don't intend to look only at the large stories of the day, but at those that should be. I'll link to opinions that I find valuable, and provide my own.

I hope you enjoy one barbarian's view from the steppe.