McCain knows why it is important to win

Michael Goodwin:

Sen. John McCain is on a mission. He has demanded for months that we increase our troop strength in Iraq, and now he has upped the ante by warning of dire consequences. "There's only one thing worse than an overstressed Army and Marine Corps," he told the Iraq Study Group leaders, "and that's a defeated Army and Marine Corps."

McCain (R-Ariz.) believes that maintaining our current force level will inevitably spell defeat in Iraq, but his point also could apply to another dangerous outcome. Our failure in this war would be a deep blow to the military's confidence, and thus its effectiveness, in the next war.

And make no mistake - there will be a next war. With the rise of Islamic fanatics around the globe, the next war will likely be against an insurgent, terrorist enemy similar to the one bedeviling us in Iraq.

That possibility makes this an especially lousy time for an Iraq version of Vietnam Syndrome. The malady, a shell-shock for the military and political establishments, haunted our thinking for a generation.

From the tail-between-our-legs withdrawal from Vietnam in the early 1970s until our decisive victory in the first Gulf War in 1991, politicians and generals were reluctant to commit troops. Only the development of the Powell Doctrine, which, among other things, advocated the use of overwhelming force, and its successful implementation in driving Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein from Kuwait, freed us from the mental handcuffs. Indeed, the first Gulf War cured the Vietnam Syndrome and put the can-do confidence back in our military.

That was then. The fear now is that a defeat in Iraq will throw us into a relapse. One that could leave us unprepared and even unwilling to defend our national security in the global conflict that qualifies as World War III. In fact, Osama Bin Laden has already cited our timidity as an invitation to attack us.

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Goodwin and McCain have a point on the importance of victory. It is certainly one the Democrats do not get. McCain's biggest obstacle for additional forces is not in the White House or the Secretary of Defense office. It is in Centcom where Gen. Abizaid has been a strong proponent of the "small footprint," get the Iraqis involved, strategy. He believes that the Iraqis would be content to let us do all the work if we don;t give them some incentive to do it for themselves. I think the Iraqis would clearly like to do it on the government level, but where the troops meet the people they have not demonstrated that desire sufficiently. Until they do, we either have to do more or watch things deteriorate further. I would also note that Gen. Abizaid's "small footprint" strategy in Afghanistan has delivered more results.