by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
National Review Online<\/em><\/p>\n T<\/span>hey didn\u2019t ask necessarily for this war; but nevertheless our soldiers and officer corps brilliantly defeated Saddam Hussein in three weeks under the strict parameters set by political leaders. Then they were asked to jump start consensual government in the heart of the ancient caliphate, while ensuring that enemies like Syria and Iran, and \u201cfriends\u201d such as Saudi Arabia and Jordan did not destroy the tenuous democracy through proxy wars \u2014 although the emergence of a successful free society threatened all four neighbors in varying ways.<\/p>\n Then that effort morphed still again as Middle Eastern players all upped the ante, Iraq becoming a new battlefield, where al Qaeda has staked its all, and Islamists of various stripes realized that their And now here we are, after four years of hard, and often tragic fighting, characterized by mistake, response, fresh challenge, and more knowledgeable response still.<\/p>\n The present Army, in its make-up, tactics, expertise, and the manner in which it is led, is as different from the one that invaded in March 2003 as the army of the West in 1865 was from that of 1861, or the U.S. army that crossed the Rhine in 1945 was from what landed in North Africa in late 1942. All armies change in wars; the victorious ones for the better \u2014 and ours under Petraeus has as well.<\/p>\n Given the regional stakes that ripple far beyond Iraq (and range from the source of a considerable part of the fuel that powers the world economy, to the proliferation of nuclear weapons, to the security of the United States and its regional allies, to the future of Islam in the modern world), surely we owe Gen. Petraeus the necessary window of support, so that the full effect of his strategy can be assessed \u2014 realizing that while al Qaeda cannot defeat the U.S. military, it seeks to kidnap, behead, and poison in such a horrific and publicized manner to demoralize enough of us to circumvent a fair and full assessment of Petraeus\u2019s efforts.<\/p>\n For some of us who had doubts that increased numbers at this late date, without radical changes in strategy and rules of engagement, were the answers, and might only increase Iraqi dependency, we must be proven quite wrong, as the surge, both the numbers and new tactics, are found to be the proper winning formula. In any case, the general and our troops need our full support at this critical summer and autumn as things in Iraq and the wider region seem to be coming to a climax.<\/p>\n \u00a92007 Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online They didn\u2019t ask necessarily for this war; but nevertheless our soldiers and officer corps brilliantly defeated Saddam Hussein in three weeks under the strict parameters set by political leaders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[758],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-Wv","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10046,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-yanks-over-there-100-years-ago\/","url_meta":{"origin":3627,"position":0},"title":"The Yanks over There \u2014 100 Years Ago","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"By Victor Davis Hanson\/\/ National Review American intervention saved Western Europe in World War I, but the result was a failed armistice. One hundred years ago, on April 6, 1917, the United States entered World War I. The ongoing conflict ended just 19 months later with an Allied victory. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Diplomacy"","block_context":{"text":"Diplomacy","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/geopolitics\/diplomacy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4336,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-iraqi-wars\/","url_meta":{"origin":3627,"position":1},"title":"The Iraqi Wars","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 12, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Our 15-year conflict with Iraq. by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online Iraq is a blur now. Everyone from Norman Schwarzkopf and General Zinni to Tommy Franks and General Abezaid is mixed up in our memories. The public can't quite separate Baathists from jihadists, Shiite from Sunni, or one coalition\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "July 2005"","block_context":{"text":"July 2005","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2005\/july-2005\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10536,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/preemptive-strikes-and-preventive-wars-a-historians-perspective\/","url_meta":{"origin":3627,"position":2},"title":"Preemptive Strikes and Preventive Wars: A Historian\u2019s Perspective","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"By Barry Strauss Strategika Preventive wars and preemptive strikes are both risky business. A preventive war is a military, diplomatic, and strategic endeavor, aimed at an enemy whom one expects to grow so strong that delay would cause defeat. A preemptive strike is a military operation or series of operations\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Strategika"","block_context":{"text":"Strategika","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/strategika\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/buyWarBonds.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9277,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/setting-the-record-straight-on-britain-america-and-world-war-ii\/","url_meta":{"origin":3627,"position":3},"title":"Setting the Record Straight on Britain, America, and World War II","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"By Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Online While in London last week, President Obama waded into the upcoming British referendum about whether the United Kingdom should stay in the European Union. Controversy followed his lecture about the future of the Anglo-American relationship should Britain depart the EU. Obama also\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Europe"","block_context":{"text":"Europe","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2319,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/war-what-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":3627,"position":4},"title":"War–What War?","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services The anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan headed to Martha's Vineyard this week, where President Obama is vacationing. Once again she is protesting our two wars abroad. But Sheehan is a media has-been. ABC's Charlie Gibson used to cover her anti-Bush rallies in Crawford, Texas.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "September 2009"","block_context":{"text":"September 2009","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2009\/september-2009\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12797,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-spartan-way-of-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":3627,"position":5},"title":"The Spartan way of war","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 21, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ The New Criterion Sparta\u2019s check of imperial Athens in the inconclusive so-called First Peloponnesian War (460\u2013445\u00a0B.C.) foreshadowed a remarkable subsequent twenty-eight-year growth in Lacedaemonian power and influence. At the war\u2019s end, Sparta had established itself as the only impediment left to an increasingly Athenian Greece. Fourteen\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3627"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3627"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3628,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3627\/revisions\/3628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nvery existence was in the balance.<\/p>\n