What he[ Perle] calls incompetence and mismanagement; indecision and confusion; and failure --these are all normal and expected events during a war. I defy Perle--or anyone--to give me an example of a perfectly competently managed war that never had any indecision or confusion; or setbacks and even failures during their course.
All these factors are always a part of any human endeavor, most particularly any military endeavor, as surely as are either victory or defeat. I believe some General once said that the key to achieving victory is simply being less incomeptent and less confused than your enemy and outlasting him... and if there isn't a General somewhere who said something like that, then there should be.
Though it is far too politically incorrect to note that from an historic perspective, the losses in this war simply cannot compare to any previous war; nor can the incredible efforts that have been made to spare innocent human life as much as possible on the part of the American forces.
I do not minimize those losses or the sacrifices that have been made. It is not a matter of numbers; nor do I take anything away from the courage of those who gave their life for their country by asserting that loss of life has been historically low in this war. But it places the "cost" that Perle talks about in some perspective and minimizes the associated hysteria we have come to associate with each and every death. Instead of hysteria, let us associate a well-deserved honor for each death that preserves and protects our own values and liberty.
Today, GatewayPundit has an excellent series of graphs quantifying that sacrifice. Here's a brief summary:
Iraq War (5 years)-- 3,990
Batan Death March (one week)-- 10,000
Battle of Guadalcanal (186 days)-- 7,099
Battle of Guam (20 Days)-- 3,000
Operation Market Garden (9 days)-- 3,664
Battle of the Bulge (41 days)-- 19,276
Battle of Iwo Jima (39 days)-- 6,821
Battle of Pusan Perimeter (61 days-Korea)-- 6,706
If you have not seen this data, it is worthwhile to go and have a look. Again, without minimizing the courage and sacrifice of those who have given their life in Iraq or Afghanistan, what does this comparative information tell us?
It tells us that sacrifice has become a 'dirty word' in the Democratic Party lexicon; that any sacrifice for any purpose is too large to bear.
This party of self-aggrandizing fools should retrospectively surrender to Hitler and Hirohito and make things right. Of course, we should instantly begin a withdrawal of forces from both Germany and Japan as we have been occupying those countries for decades now.
How I despise what the Democratic Party has become, as they argue among themselves which candidate can 'get us out' of Iraq faster and which candidate was more against getting in in the first place. Last night on the Fox All Stars Mort Kondracke and Mara Liasson both stated that what the Democrats are saying now will change if either is elected because they simply could not be so irresponsible to abandon Iraq. Charles Krauthammer disagreed, as do I.
These clowns have been completely irresponsible for the last 7 years as they have undermined and minimized the accomplishments in both Iraq and Afghanistan. They have hovered like vultures, gleefully chortling whenever the battles turned against the troops, solemnly pointing to the death of each and every soldier as evidence of incompetence and mismanagement. When they weren't pushing the image of our military as the poor victims of the warmongering Bush Administration, they were hyping the image of soldiers, sailors and marines as sadistic murderers.
Make no mistake about it. They will abandon Iraq in a heartbeat if it is politically expedient to do so. They are beneath contempt.
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