November 29, 2004

THE IRAQIS, OF COURSE, ARE JUST RATS IN A MAZE

America is losing the last mile in Iraq" (Thomas Friedman, International Herald Tribune, November 29th, 2004)

Improv time is over. This is crunch time. Iraq will be won or lost in the next few months. But it won't be won with high rhetoric. It will be won on the ground in a war over the last mile.

Winning in Iraq is now about who has the smarts, the focus, the gumption, the strategy, the coordination skills and the follow-through to get control of the last mile. Can America pull off a decent election in Iraq, with some Sunni participation, and produce a reasonably legitimate government there, for which the police and the army will fight, or will the insurgents thwart that? Can America connect the electricity and sewers and get more jobs going, so more Iraqis are invested in peace, or will the insurgents thwart that? Can America make sure that the 570-plus election polling places will be secure from suicide bombers, or will the insurgents thwart that? Can America finally build an effective U.S. information campaign in Iraq and the Arab world, or will we cede the field to Al-Jazeera instead? Can we neutralize meddling by the Iranians and Syrians in the Iraqi elections, or will they outfox us?

Wars are fought for political ends. Soldiers can only do so much. And the last mile in every war is about claiming the political fruits. The bad guys in Iraq can lose every mile on every road, but if they beat America on the last mile - because they are able to intimidate better than America is able to coordinate, protect, inform, invest and motivate - they will win and America will lose.

Can Americans take pride in their sacrifices to make the world and the Middle East safer and give the Iraqis the chance of a lifetime, or will the New York Times thwart that?

Posted by Peter Burnet at November 29, 2004 8:55 AM
Comments

Is Tom Friedman actually endorsing the violent deaths of about 5,000 men? Good for him.

Posted by: jim hamlen at November 29, 2004 9:05 AM

There was a time when Mr Friedman was a voice of at least some reason on the pages of the NYT. Now he's the supreme nutcase of the asylum.

Posted by: Peter at November 29, 2004 10:49 AM

Wow! Where's the yellow cake? Where's Wilson? Where's Sandy Berger? Where's Friedman?

Posted by: genecis at November 29, 2004 11:03 AM

Friedman, as a member of Peace Now in college, is and always has been a self-hating Jew of the first order. His mantra is 'If something can somehow, somewhere rebound in some way to Israel's benefit, it must be the purest evil and must be unalterably and uncompromisingly opposed.'

That he is leading the charge at the Times to denigrate our efforts in Iraq should surprise no one.

Posted by: Bart at November 29, 2004 11:33 AM

Friedman, as a member of Peace Now in college, is and always has been a self-hating Jew of the first order.

In the KZs of the Reich, he'd be a Kapo or Sonderkommando. Outside the KZs, he'd be head of some ghetto's Jewish Council or performing for the newsreels in Theriesenstadt.

Posted by: Ken at November 29, 2004 3:11 PM

Oh come on Bart. Friedman is not leading anything at the times. he is just following orders. He is nowhere near as crazy as Frank Rich or Paul Krugman.

Posted by: Robert Schwartz at November 29, 2004 11:55 PM
He is nowhere near as crazy as Frank Rich or Paul Krugman.
Maybe not, but I'm still not gonna forgive him for Lexus and that nauseatingly-extended "operating system" analogy. Man, did his editor ever fail him!!! Posted by: at November 30, 2004 3:44 AM

Robert,

I don't think Rich is crazy, merely stupid and dishonorable. He reminds me of so many liberal arts types I knew, he could parrot the official line like a Mullah reciting the Koran by heart, or for that matter Jerry Lucas reciting the Manhattan phone directory. However, if he were asked something even 1 degree off line, you would see smoke coming out of his ears and hear springs breaking in his head. He's essentially animatronic.

Krugman is truly insane. It wouldn't surprise me if he talks to little green men every night who keep him up to date on the latest crimes of the Bush Administration.

Posted by: Bart at November 30, 2004 5:56 AM
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