Word: defeatism
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...report’s support for an arbitrary deadline of early 2008 for an American military withdrawal. In response, Senator John S. McCain (R-Ariz.), a revered Vietnam veteran and presidential candidate for 2008, called this deadline “a recipe that will lead to…our defeat.” Announcing a set deadline is tantamount to having a parent announce to their teenage child that they will leave the house for the weekend…party, anyone? It would only invigorate America’s enemies around the globe, since they would seize the opportunity...
...they would be right to wonder--because we don't need to accept defeat in Iraq. Former Army Vice Chief of Staff General Jack Keane and military expert Frederick Kagan, working with other experienced military and civilian planners, have laid out a new strategy for victory, supported by a sustained and substantial (but feasible) troop increase. That plan (available at aei.org reverses the debilitating Rumsfeld-Abizaid-Casey emphasis on a "light footprint" for the U.S. military and on drawing down American troops as soon as possible. Keane-Kagan follows classic counterinsurgency doctrine by sending enough troops to provide security...
Asked what happens if the surge fails, he added, "If the situation collapses for some other reason--loss of will in the U.S., say, or an unexpected Iraqi political meltdown, then the reduced violence will permit a more orderly withdrawal, if that becomes necessary, mitigating the effect of defeat on the U.S. military and potentially on the region." A retired colonel who served in Baghdad put it more bluntly: "We don't know whether this is a plan for victory or just to signal to Americans that we did our damnedest before pulling...
...unwritten rule: each president gets one foreign policy doctrine. James Monroe's was defense of the Americas. Harry S Truman's was containment. And George W. Bush's--spelled out after the defeat of the Taliban in 2002--was pre-emptive war to defeat terrorism and spread democracy...
...from the African Union. This past summer the Bush Administration briefly put Israel in charge of our Iran policy, supporting Jerusalem's war against Hizballah in hopes of crippling Tehran's powerful Lebanese ally. And in Iraq the U.S. is relying more and more on Nouri al-Maliki to defeat the insurgents, disarm the militias and give...