More On Iraq & Gen. Jacke Keane

Longtime friend and reader of OL&L, Matt D., writes in response to my earlier post:

Having spent 14 months in Iraq from December 2003 through February 2005, the one that is very clear to me is that this is unlike any war that has ever been fought. Anybody that currently believes that we can and should just pull out tomorrow does not understand the ramifications that such an action would cause. Regardless of whether or not we should have gone there in the first place, we have to finish the job before we leave.

The dynamics of this war are difficult to understand, and the history of what is happening there does not go back when we invaded in 2003, nor does it go back to 1990-ish for the first gulf war. It goes back to WWI and the treaty of Versailles. That was when we got Turks, Kurds, Shiite Muslims and Sunni Muslims shoved into the same country. They've never really gotten along, and they only stayed relatively quiet under Sadam's rule because he had a habit of killing people. We dug up years and years of history, and the only way to calm everything down is to provide an intense amount of security until the new government can stabilize itself. Allowing one of the groups to overly dominate the others by force instead of through constructive debate would only bring progress to a screeching halt.

So, our current role is to try to keep people from killing each other so the constructive debates can continue. It's hard to do that if you only have one pair of eyes for every 1,000,000 people. The surge helps us keep tabs on terrorist groups and their movements, so we can prevent attacks and kill terrorists. From where I'm sitting, that's a good thing. I'd like to see our troops come home as soon as possible too, but let's not make the political unpopularity of the war drive us to defeat. I'm with Gen. Keane--let's git 'er done.

This is good stuff. And I want to thank all the readers who email me with thoughtful comments. With so many emails, I can't possibly post everything everyone sends me, so don't be offended if what you send doesn't make the cut.


If you have tips, questions, comments or suggestions, email me at lybberty@gmail.com.

Gen. Jack Keane, American Hero

Last week's WSJ Weekend Interview was with Gen. Jack Keane--one of the early backers and architects of The Surge. Add him to the list with John McCain, George W. Bush, Joe Lieberman and Gen. David Petraeus who believed in The Surge and backed it and supported it and implemented it when it was unpopular to do so.

Gen. Keane is one of the less-known, but integral contributors. Despite his key role, he is the humble soldier to the end--deflecting attention and credit.

From the interview:

The surge turned things around on another difficult front, Washington. "Despite the fact that President Bush did preside over a strategy that was failing for three plus years, and he has been criticized for that," says Gen. Keane, "he also deserves a significant amount of credit because all around him people were advocating a failed strategy, particularly key leaders around him, and he had the wherewithal to make a tough decision that flew certainly in the face of political opposition even in his own party."

Gen. Keane says he understands why there was resentment among the Joint Chiefs at seeing the president change course against their wishes and follow a retired general's recommendations on strategy and staffing in a war zone. But he considers his role perfectly appropriate. "In my mind, I think a president has a right to seek advice and counsel any place he chooses," he says. "I certainly wasn't forcing myself on them."

The U.S. came "within weeks or months" of defeat in Iraq in 2006, he says. The consequences of that were "unacceptable" for the region, "not to speak of an institution that I loved." And what about the military chiefs who thought the extra battalions and extended service tours would be too much of a strain on American forces? "When people talk about stress and strain on a force, the stress and strain that would come from having to live with a humiliating defeat would be quite staggering."

If you have tips, questions, comments or suggestions, email me at lybberty@gmail.com.