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Charen: Defeat
Townhall.com ^ | 11-16-06 | Mona Charen

Posted on 11/17/2006, 3:53:30 PM by cgk

Defeat


By Mona Charen
Thursday, November 16, 2006

America is the world's hyperpower. No other nation or group of nations can challenge us militarily or economically. Unlike sickly Europe, we are growing, not contracting. But we are about to be defeated in Iraq by a few thousand cutthroats.

How did this happen? It's simple: The only thing powerful enough to defeat us is ourselves, and we've done it.

In my last column I argued that the 2006 election was lost by Republicans through a combination of corruption and complacency. Dissatisfaction with the progress of the war in Iraq didn't help (though I don't believe it was decisive).

The Democrats however, do believe the election victory was attributable to the war in Iraq and are now rushing to concretize that perception. Rep. Jack Murtha, chief spokesman for the "run away" faction of the Democratic Party, is dueling with Rep. Steny Hoyer for the majority leader post. Murtha's office released a statement reminding Democrats that "The record is clear: Jack Murtha has been a constant voice for change in Iraq and Steny Hoyer has not."

The writing is not just on the wall, it's on the floors, ceilings, tables and chairs -- we are about to give up.

The president's people continue to insist that he will settle for nothing less than victory in Iraq. But look at the Iraq Study Group (Baker-Hamilton Commission), from whom the president so looks forward to hearing recommendations. As the American Enterprise Institute's Michael Rubin notes, the commission has claimed to be taking a fresh look at the situation but has already stacked its four subordinate expert working groups with committed opponents of the war in Iraq.

Rubin writes: "Raad Alkadiri, for example, has repeatedly defined U.S. motivation for Iraq's liberation as a grab for oil. Raymond Close, listed on the Iraq Study Group's website as a 'freelance analyst,' is actually a member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, which, in July 2003, called for Vice President Dick Cheney's resignation for an alleged conspiracy to distort intelligence, which they said had been uncovered by none other than Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV. The following summer, Close posited that 'Bush and the neocons' had fabricated the charge 'that the evil Iranian mullahs inspired and instigated the radical Shia Islamist insurgency.' To Close, the problem was not Iranian training and supply of money and sophisticated explosives to terrorists, but rather neoconservatism."

The rumors circulating about the commission's report, due next month, suggest that co-chairs James Baker III and former Rep. Lee Hamilton will recommend a "grand bargain" among the warring factions in Iraq and enlist the cooperation of Iraq's neighbors in pacifying the country.

Iraq's neighbors? Iran and Syria? The nations that are bankrolling and supplying the internecine violence? The nations that are the world's top sponsors of terror? Iran: the nation that boasts of its genocidal ambitions toward Israel and the United States even as it races -- against the express wishes of the entire civilized world -- to obtain nuclear weapons? The nations that have the most to gain from our failure?

Why hasn't this approach been tried before? When we were having trouble in Bosnia, why didn't we ask for help from neighborly Serbia? When we were trying to help El Salvador democratize, why didn't we ask for help from the Sandinistas? When Kennedy was having trouble with Cuba, why didn't he ask for help from the USSR?

The only alternative to the surrenders on offer by the Democrats and by the "realist" Republicans is a renewed determination to win. The assassins in Iraq pursue their dirty war despite the cost because it is succeeding. They know they are on the cusp of driving us out. But if, just to fantasize for a moment, we were to redouble our efforts, send more troops, kill the insurgents and convey our unflinching determination to win, the psychological effect would be enormous. And all wars are, to one degree or another, psychological.

A few months ago, The Weekly Standard magazine asked, "Will We Choose to Win in Iraq?" Tragically, I think we have our answer.

Mona Charen is a syndicated columnist, political analyst and author of Do-Gooders: How Liberals Hurt Those They Claim to Help .


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: iraq; monacharen
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1 posted on 11/17/2006, 3:53:31 PM by cgk
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To: bboop; Bismark; Black Agnes; blitzgig; Cacique; Capitalism2003; Davis; Diogenez; DoctorMichael; ...

Charen ping!

Please FReepmail me if you would like to be added to, or removed from, the Mona Charen ping list...

2 posted on 11/17/2006, 3:54:58 PM by cgk (I don't see myself as a conservative. I see myself as a religious, right-wing, wacko extremist.)
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To: cgk

No, Mona, it was you friends in the liberal media, who brought about defeat,(that hasn't happened yet, but man are they wishing and a hoping).


3 posted on 11/17/2006, 3:56:14 PM by Dane ("Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" Ronald Reagan, 1987)
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To: cgk

"We have met the enemy and they is us."

Walt Kelly


4 posted on 11/17/2006, 3:58:09 PM by sono ("Improvise, Adapt, Overcome" - Gunnery Sgt Thomas "Gunny" Highway)
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To: cgk

"A few months ago, The Weekly Standard magazine asked, "Will We Choose to Win in Iraq?" Tragically, I think we have our answer."

_______

The Media has continously pounded the Iraq war as a failure for the past three years. The have convinced many un-informed Americans that Iraq is hopeless. The GOP and the Administration are unable to counter the MSM.

Blame the Pubbies, but the real blame lies with the Liberal Media.


5 posted on 11/17/2006, 3:58:29 PM by rightinthemiddle (Without the Media, the Left and Islamofacists are Nothing.)
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To: cgk
Negative Mona with the think neck veins returns!

You never hear from her unless she is peeved about something. She and Laura Ingraham should start a club.
6 posted on 11/17/2006, 3:59:01 PM by Pukin Dog (Being a Liberal is just a coping mechanism for low self esteem and/or bad parenting.)
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To: cgk

do you have a link for this?


7 posted on 11/17/2006, 4:00:19 PM by Sidebar Moderator
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To: Dane
..No, Mona, it was your friends in the liberal media..

Don't understand your meaning; Mona Charen is very conservative, and not noted for having any friends in the liberal media.

8 posted on 11/17/2006, 4:01:31 PM by MrNatural ("...You want the truth!?...")
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To: MrNatural
Don't understand your meaning; Mona Charen is very conservative, and not noted for having any friends in the liberal media.

Please, Mona gets her journalist paycheck by working the DC beltway game.

I found it interesting that she left out the liberal media in her article.

9 posted on 11/17/2006, 4:04:51 PM by Dane ("Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" Ronald Reagan, 1987)
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To: Sidebar Moderator

Well that was brilliant of me for leaving it off... sorry about that! Here it is:


http://townhall.com/Columnists/MonaCharen/2006/11/16/defeat


10 posted on 11/17/2006, 4:05:58 PM by cgk (I don't see myself as a conservative. I see myself as a religious, right-wing, wacko extremist.)
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To: cgk
the "realist" Republicans
I'm glad she put this in quotes. I hate that those who choose surrender get to label themselves as "realists". By that measure, France is The Most Realistic Nation On Earth.
11 posted on 11/17/2006, 4:50:19 PM by samtheman (The Democrats are the DhimmiGods of the New Religion of PC)
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To: Pukin Dog
You never hear from her unless she is peeved about something.
There's a lot to be peeved about, unless you like the current situation we find ourselves in.
12 posted on 11/17/2006, 4:51:32 PM by samtheman (The Democrats are the DhimmiGods of the New Religion of PC)
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To: cgk

Wow! Mona wrote a column without telling us about her wondeful children.


13 posted on 11/17/2006, 4:57:18 PM by Minn
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To: cgk

Even many dim Dems realize that to give up in Iraq would be disastrous and suicidal. Plus they forget that President Bush still runs foreign policy.


14 posted on 11/17/2006, 4:58:30 PM by Rummyfan (Iraq: Give therapeutic violence a chance!)
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To: MrNatural
Don't understand your meaning; Mona Charen is very conservative, and not noted for having any friends in the liberal media.

I think the meaning is that nobody seems to want to say what's obvious: that the MSM represent an active fifth column in this war.

There's lots of fishing around about why Americans seem dismayed, and only rarely among "leading pundits" do we see the finger pointed at the media role in it.

15 posted on 11/17/2006, 5:00:29 PM by r9etb
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To: cgk
America is the world's hyperpower.

Sadly, I don't think so. A country of 300M that can't take 3000 casualties is no kind of power. This is the last days of the Roman Empire, and the barbarians are at the border.

16 posted on 11/17/2006, 5:01:20 PM by stop_fascism
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To: rightinthemiddle

I disagree - Bush and the Repubs have had ample opportunities to speak forcefully about our successes in Iraq and to rebuke the lies that are being told by the MSM. Between Bush's poor communicaton skills and the lack of a cohesive/offensive PR strategy, what is one to think about the true "will to win"? This is reminiscent of Lyndon Johnson lamenting that when he lost Walter Conkrite, he lost the Nation. Geez, LBJ never had Leftie Cronkite in the first place, and night after night Walter spun his deceit and lies to the American people about what was going on in Vietnam. The President has got to go directly to the people and tell them the whole truth, the good, the bad, and the ugly- don't poop out before the job is done.


17 posted on 11/17/2006, 5:35:44 PM by Sioux-san (God save the Sheeple)
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To: Sioux-san

Every time the President goes "directly to the people," he has to use the MSM. There's always a mindless anchor or pundit there to dispute what he says, There's always the "alternative" view presented in detail by some columnist or strategist. Most effective are the biased headlines, radio reports and computer-generated graphics on the news channels...the "quick hits."

And, the mantra "Bush Lied" is no accident.

I do this stuff for a living. The endless pounding by the MSM has worked for the Left. They know it and the MSM knows it. I proposed the RNC begin a coordinated, year-round paid media/PR campaign on another thread the other day. No matter what they do, they can never match up to the daily, constant spin from the MSM.

Bush is not great in press conferences, but I've seen him speak live three times. When he goes directly to the people, he is very impresssive. But, by the time the MSM spins it, his message is more than lost...it is changed.


18 posted on 11/17/2006, 5:50:25 PM by rightinthemiddle (Without the Media, the Left and Islamofacists are Nothing.)
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To: rightinthemiddle

I don't understand this paleocon or lib logic. The blowback from a defeat in Iraq will be far greater than "staying the course" by an exponential factor. Are these people goofy?


19 posted on 11/17/2006, 6:31:50 PM by attiladhun2 (Islam is a despotism so vile that it would warm the heart of Orwell's Big Brother)
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To: cgk
But if, just to fantasize for a moment, we were to redouble our efforts, send more troops, kill the insurgents and convey our unflinching determination to win, the psychological effect would be enormous. And all wars are, to one degree or another, psychological.

Fantasy indeed. I don't think Bush can articulate and get the support for such a strategy if the terrorists do not strike directly at U.S. interests or territory.
20 posted on 11/17/2006, 7:50:17 PM by George W. Bush
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