Neocon, re: "That is one of the things you fail to understand: the trick now is to get the best result possible, in the face of difficulty, not to declare the mission a mistake and give up."
Your statement is a truism. Of course we want to get the best result possible, in the face of difficulty. Of course we don't want to "give up." It begs the question, however, of what is the "best" result we can realistically achieve.
If we attempt to secure results which are either not achievable, or are so costly that we would never attempt them knowing the ultimate cost, how does that help us? These are issues that must be faced and simply saying "we cannot afford to fail," simply begs the question. To say "America will not turn tail and quit," is the height of ignorance and arrogance when the cost of pursuing a policy likely doomed to failure is the lives of our young and the treasury of our country.
Are you worried about this administrations erroneous assessments on the wmds, the requirements to provide security in post-invasion Iraq, the players in and intensity of the anti-occupation insurgency, the world's reaction to our action in Iraq, the passivity of many of the Iraqi citizenry when it came time to stand up and be counted, and the cost of post-war Iraq? Do you worry that this indicates an unrealistic neocon or evangelical view of the world? Do you suspect that their learning curve is flat because their ideological beliefs are stronger than their grasp of reality? You should!
Sometimes the best thing a person or a country can do is declare victory, or defeat, and start over. If our ends are unattainable and our efforts are to end in failure, better sooner than later. To wave the flag and preclude ANY option is foolish. |
