Harry Reid loses it on the war

Austin Bay:

Yup. He sure did. Harry Reid unequivocally called the war lost.

His headline, directed at readers of The DailyKos:

“Now I believe myself . . . that this war is lost, and that the surge is not accomplishing anything, as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq yesterday,” said Reid, of Nevada.

But then he carefully squiggles, weaves, and pedals:

“The (Iraq) war can only be won diplomatically, politically and economically, and the president needs to come to that realization,” Reid said.

What a slickee boy. It’s lost, but can only be won, if…Hmmm.

There are (and have been) four lines of operation in Iraq: security (military ops,building Iraqi defense capabilities), governmental (political participation and structure building), information (intel, media, and political perception), and economic (economic development, infrastructure creation).

No, the War on Terror and its Iraq phase are not lost. They certainly haven’t been lost militarily, and Reid knows it. Since mid-April 2003 the economic and governmental components have been the decisive dimensions. Check Iraq’s GDP — it’s growing. Its elected a democratic government. The Saddamists, Al Qaeda, and Iranian-influenced Shia militias have had enormous information successes. Senator Reid and I might discuss why that’s the case. One reason is that they are not penalized by the conventional media and the Left for a campaign of mass murder overwhelmingly directed against Iraqi civilians. You want to help end the terror in Iraq? Condemn the terrorists as the Cho-like psychopaths they are. Deny them the false celebrity they gain when dubbed “insurgents.”

It would be refreshing if Reid even had the courage of his defeatist convictions.

...

Reid must have consulted with others in the loser lobby because his squiggle came later. It was necessary, because the Democrats are not going to be able to get a vote saying we have lost and must withdraw. But if we had really lost, then the troops should come out now and not in 2008. Our enemies should be happy to know that Democrats are so easy to defeat in a war that they will cut and run after terrorist attacks against non combatants.

This is the AFP story on Reid's gaffe. It will be interesting to see how people who know something about warfare react to his statement. Austin Bay is one such person and he is obviously in disagreement. My study of military history leads me to the conclusion that Reid's position is absurd. The only hope al Qaeda and the Baathist have is that Reid will convince some others to agree with him, because they are not going to win the the Iraq battle space.

The good thing from this gaffe is that it gets the Democrats real position on the table where all can see their defeatist attitude. It is time for them to drop the pretense contained in their long term surrender proposal.

Michelle Malkin has the reactions of many with military experience.