Informed Speculation

Talk about pulling no punches:

A Democrat Congressman, Jack Murtha, has called for immediate US withdrawal from Iraq. He’s a Vietnam veteran, so naturally the media are insisting that his views warrant special deference, military experience in a war America lost being the only military experience the Democrats and the press value these days. Hence, the demand for the President to come up with an “exit strategy”.

In war, there are usually only two exit strategies: victory or defeat. The latter’s easier. Just say, whoa, we’re the world’s pre-eminent power but we can’t handle an unprecedently low level of casualties, so if you don’t mind we’d just as soon get off at the next stop.

Of course, Steyn is right…and I’m partly to blame. In a world of 24-hour news cycles, with cable outfits and bloggers looking for a story every minute of every day, we engage in an unseemly amount of second-guessing and absurd speculation from those who have not the slightest clue what is going on in Baghdad, myself included.

The simple fact is that this thing is going to take some time. At a bare minimum, we can count on a significant troop presence in Iraq at this time next year; more likely, for many years hereafter. Here, then, is one of the reasons I like Bush so much – despite all the snafus and bad decisions, he is a resolute man, and unlikely to jeopardize the mission because of political concerns…but God help us if the wrong man (or woman) wins in 2008…