U.S. can't 'redeploy' its way out of Iraq

http://www.suntimes.com/output/steyn/cst-edt-steyn25.html# ^ | Mark Steyn

[croak]

Last week John Kerry revealed his plan to "redeploy" U.S. forces from Iraq. This plan is different from fellow Defeaticrat Jack Murtha's plan to "redeploy" U.S. forces from Iraq to Okinawa, which Congressman Murtha seems to think is in the general neighborhood of Iraq. Iraq's in the Middle East, Okinawa's in the Far East: C'mon, how far can it be to get from the Far to the Middle? After all, the distance between the farthest fringe of the kook left and the center of the Democratic Party seems to be closing up every week.

Anyway, Sen. Kerry doesn't want to waste time "redeploying" to Okinawa. When America "redeploys," it's not going to take a connecting flight via Japan and risk its luggage getting "redeployed" to Bratislava. No, sir, in John Kerry's America, we "redeploy" nonstop, straight back to Main Street in time for the Redeployment Day parade.

[COUNTrecount]

Thanks !

[PzLdr]

I kind of leaned toward "Redeployment Day Parade", myself.

[Brian Allen]

Thank you, Pokey. Does this guy get only better> Or does he only get better?

[irv]

The Defeaticrats' "New Direction for America" foresees a future for this country as a kind of Lesser France.

Ouch! That one's gonna leave a mark.

Thanks for the unexcerpted version.

[GOPJ]

Kerry gets all huffy if he thinks you're questioning his patriotism, so let's be charitable and assume the Defeaticrats are simply missing the point: For the rest of the world, what's at issue in the Iraq war is not the future of Iraq but the future of America. Can the world's leading nation still lead or is Kerry's Vietnam Syndrome "seared" (as he'd say) into its bones? Luxembourg can be Luxembourg. America doesn't have that option. In a nonpolar world, there's nowhere to redeploy to.

Steyn's right. If our light goes out, the world will be plunged into "worst thug terrorizes" darkness.

What will it be like?

For most of mankind, it will be like what Christians imagine is the lead up to the second coming - what Islam thinks of as the world in such horror that the Mahdi appears - in short, it will be hell on earth. Steyn has the unique ability to see down the road -- that ability that's got to be painful.

[Gritty]

Permanence is the illusion of every age. And, if you're interested in a "dignified retirement," you might want to give some thought to the shape of the world the day after tomorrow.

Oh, my. Steyn has hit another one out of the ballpark!

He can be truly marvelous when he shows his keen grasp of the invisible obvious.

I really wish there were some way we could hire him to be the permanent advisor to the United States Government. But then he might end up as a hack like so many of them.

[antivenom]

Great post, I would have missed this if you hadn't posted it..thanks!

[Rummyfan]

It's a six-point plan, two of whose points are "Cut College Costs" and "Ensure Dignified Retirement." On the first point, it's true the education system remains a problem: Many hardworking Americans are trapped in low-paying dead-end jobs as U.S. congressmen because an inadequate education left them with the impression Okinawa's in the United Arab Emirates. On the second point, I'm all in favor of a "dignified retirement": Why not try it on Kerry as a pilot program? As for the other four points, none has anything to say about national security or foreign policy.

Amen, Amen, Amen!!!!!!!

[metesky]

Good post.

[metesky]

IMO, people are suffering more from media burnout and bleating, than war weary in the sense of WWII with so many more deaths and rationing of so many goods and products. I think most people when they think of ending the war mean end it with some WWII ass-kicking and make them beg for terms.

[alwaysconservative]

Thanks so much for the ping and the whole column, Pokey!

[NonValueAdded]

And it fits as a tag line!

[Rembrandt]

The sun never sets on the Liberal Empire.

[Rembrandt]

"Who wants to be the last casualty in a war that is coming to an end?"

Are you seeking nominations? I can think of plenty - Hillary, Peench (me) Sulzberger, Turban Durbin, a number of RINO's, Dingy Harry, Georgie Porgey Soros, Miss America, Kim Jong Odd, Chuckles (where's the camera?) Schumer, et. al.

[Watery Tart]

Thanks Pokey, for the unexcerpted, unredeployed version and the ping. I had not seen this article before!

[GretchenM]

So many gems ...

"The Defeaticrats' "New Direction for America" foresees a future for this country as a kind of Lesser France."

"the real threat is not the strengths of your enemies but their weaknesses. China is a weak power: Its population will get old before it gets rich. Russia is a weak power: If Africa has health crises, the Middle East has Islamists and North Korea has nukes, then Russia's got the lot: a dying population whose men have a lower life expectancy than Bangladeshis with a Muslim separatist movement sitting on top of the biggest pile of nukes on the planet. Europe is a weak power, remorselessly evolving month by month into Eurabia."

"what's at issue in the Iraq war is not the future of Iraq but the future of America"

[DakotaRed]

Kerry's call for "redeployment" after his resounding defeat of his "withdrawal last week and saying the troops would be "just over the horizon," just reminded me too much of the Wizard of Oz and Judy Garland singing "Somehwere over the Rainbow."

I put up and essay about it here;

http://allthingsright.spaces.msn.com/PersonalSpace.aspx

[Neophyte]

I suspect most Americans don't want our country to become France. Hell no, we don't even want to go there!

Right. One can have French fries anywhere.

[LoudRepublicangirl]

I think most people when they think of ending the war mean end it with some WWII ass-kicking and make them beg for terms.



I like the ass-kicking option and the begging. Actually I read on another thread that the Taliban in Afghanistan are begging for a month long ceasefire. I hope we are not going to fall for that B.S. again. Let's just finish them off.

[cva66snipe]

I think most people when they think of ending the war mean end it with some WWII ass-kicking and make them beg for terms. I like the ass-kicking option and the begging. Actually I read on another thread that the Taliban in Afghanistan are begging for a month long ceasefire. I hope we are not going to fall for that B.S. again. Let's just finish them off.

That is our best long term option for Iraq. Do it, get it over with, forget the nation building we're building a better Iraq nonsense our president is obsessed with and get out of there.

This is not cut and run. I promise anyone Kerrry nor Murtha would like this plan. End it now in a clear precise military manner. Pull the troops and level anything that could be used against us in the future. Forget about building a democracy in Iraq when we leave tomorrow or 50 years from now it will revert back to what it was. Bush is trying to change 3500 years of inside fighting in that nation.

Our military needs a break and our troops some on third deployments need down time to deal with possible future threats. This is not to say we can not still have operations in Iraq by using military overseen covert operations to take out future targets. But the idea that you can fight a war and build a nation at the same time is insane. Both Bush and the DEMs are wrong about their policy in Iraq. Bush lost his way by making it a nation rebuilding project. It was and still is a mistake. You do not got to war and reward an enemy at the same time.