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June 19, 2006
The Consequences of Failure
So the Democrats, led by Rep John Murtha, are constantly clamoring for us to pull out of Iraq immediately. What strikes me about their rhetoric is that it is utterly devoid of speculation as to what might happen in Iraq and around the world if we did so.
Cliff May pointed out the other day on NRO's The Corner blog what would most likely occur
Much as I hope to see a free and democratic Iraq, I don’t think democratization is the key distinction – or the key issue.We lost in Vietnam because we didn’t have the will and the skills to prevail. Hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese boat people and millions of Cambodian victims of the Khmer Rouge paid the stiffest price.
Americans went home and got on with their lives. But notice was taken of America’s failure.
That led to the seizure of our embassy in Tehran in 1979. When we responded fecklessly to that act of war, the Ayatollahs let loose Hezbollah to slaughter U.S. Marines, diplomats and intelligence agents in Beirut. We retreated again.
And we were tested again – in Mogadishu in 1993. We did not pass that test either.
So Osama bin Laden was inspired to train thousands of terrorists in Afghanistan. We knew what he was doing. We did nothing serious in response. Before long, they came after us – in Kenya and Tanzania, off the coast of Yemen and then in New York and Washington.
Eliminating Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaeda’s commander in Iraq, was a great victory. But it’s important to continue to pursue the enemy – not stop fighting prematurely as we did in both 1991 and 2003.
If we fail to prevail against al-Qaeda and the remnants of Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq, why would we not falter also in Afghanistan? And why wouldn’t the same strategy and tactics lead to victory for the Islamo-fascists in Jordan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia and elsewhere?
We either develop the will – and the military and intelligence skills — to defeat the enemy we now face on the battlefield in Iraq, or we retreat not just from Iraq but from anyplace our enemies don’t want us.
We either overcome our enemies or we resign ourselves to cowering behind concrete barriers for the remainder of this century.
(emphasis added)
He's right, of course.
Anti-war types will deride this, claiming that May's thinking represents the "failed domino theory" of the 1950s and 60s. But they would be incorrect.
But plenty of dominos did fall, and others were only propped up at the last minute. The communists seized power in Czechoslovakia in 1948, taking the West by surprise. The northern part of Korea went communist in 1948, and in China the communists won their civil war in 1949.
Greece and Turkey escaped communist control by virtue of the Truman Doctrine, in which the United States pledged aid and security guarantees to the two countries.
Fidel Castro and his band of communist revolutionaries took control of Havana, and thus Cuba, on New Years Day in 1959. His associate Che Guevaro attempted to spread their revolution throughout Central and South America, but fortunately were stopped.
It may well be that our presence in Vietnam for so long prevented other countries in the region, such as Thailand and Burma, from falling to communist expansion.
The Sandinistas (read communists) won their war against the Somoza regime in Nicaragua 1979. While they are fortunately no longer in power, they do still retain much influence in and may come back into power. In El Salvador, US aid during the 1980s finally beat off communist insurgents.
I could go on but you get the point. The communists spread their revolution to wherever they could when they could. The Islamofascists would do the same. If we allow them to win in Iraq they will redouble their efforts in Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern countries. So if you think we've got trouble now, wait until we're fighting them across half the globe. .
Posted by Tom at June 19, 2006 9:23 PM
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Comments
They are already upping the chaos in Afghanistan in the hopes that it, along with the insurgents in Iraq, will weaken the will of the US and send our soldiers packing. I feel, though, that they made a very grave error in the kidnapping and apparent beheading of two of our soldiers, at least as far as our troops are concerned. You do not mess with their brothers-in-arms and if you do, you will pay the price. ACLU and leftist law suits and criminal charges be damned.
Posted by: Anna at June 20, 2006 6:35 PM
Great post Tom and Murtha needs to go--he needs to shut-up, period.
And btw I am sorry I have not visited as often as I normally would like but I have been dealing with that obsessive news tipper-it has become scarry. I just threaten him if he does not stop I will report him to his ISP. Having said that-just wanted you to know why I have been lagging on reading here and elsewhere. I have just been rather spooked lately.
Thanks for your support and encouragement Tom at my place-I really am grateful and do appreciate it so much.
Posted by: Layla at June 21, 2006 2:38 AM
