by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
National Review Online<\/em><\/p>\n F<\/span>or all the talk of cutting off funds, redeployment, and pulling out, the new Democratic Congress will, at least for now, probably do nothing except speak impassioned words and make implicit threats. Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n First, they have to digest what they have swallowed. Democratic critics had previously framed their opposition to the war in terms of a disastrous tenure of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld; a culpable indifference to the status quo in Baghdad and at Centcom; a failure to listen to the more intellectual generals such as David Petraeus; the \u201ctoo few troops\u201d mantra; and the lionization of Gens. Shinseki, Zinni, and other shunned military critics.<\/p>\n But now Abizaid, Casey, Khalilzad, and Rumsfeld are all absent \u2014 or about to be \u2014 from direct involvement in the war. The supposed villain cast of\u00a0Cobra II<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0Fiasco<\/i>\u00a0has exited, and the purported good guys have entered. David Petraeus will, de facto, be in charge, not just in the strictly military sense, but, given the press and politics of the war, spiritually as well \u2014 in the manner that Grant by late summer 1864 had become symbolic of the entire Union military effort that was his to win or lose. Many of those officers involved in the \u201crevolt of the generals\u201d have now largely supported the surge \u2014 something Democrats themselves had inadvertently apparently called for when they serially lamented there were too few troops to win in Iraq.<\/p>\n All the old targets of the Democrats are no more, and it will take time for them to re-adjust the crosshairs to aim at men and policies that they have heretofore viewed sympathetically.<\/p>\n Second, there is also a new twist to the Democratic criticism, evident in their increasing attacks on the Iraqi government in general and on Prime Minister Maliki in particular. The Michael Moore\/Cindy Sheehan\/Code Pink rants are no longer to be echoed by bellowing Sens. Durbin, Kennedy, or Kerry, saying in effect that American troops at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, or on patrol in Iraq are somehow akin to Hitler, Pol Pot, terrorists, or Saddam Hussein. Instead, in the new liberal brief, we are dying for incompetent Iraqi sectarians who can\u2019t even conduct a decent execution.<\/p>\n That is, we are getting the Sen. Webb brand of critique of Iraq, given in terms of the national interest. Democrats seem to be saying that the Iraqis aren\u2019t worth another American life, and that the hope of democracy over there was misplaced, making futile the rare opportunity offered by American blood and treasure.<\/p>\n It matters little whether this is factually correct; their only concern is the immediate political ramifications of such a \u201cblame \u2019em\u201d stance. In terms of the effect on military operations, Bush is, in a weird way, sometimes being attacked from his right by the Left \u2014 that the Iraqis are tying our hands, or not doing their own part, or incapable of enlightened government.<\/p>\n Not only will the administration bring pressure on Maliki by playing the sympathetic good cop to the Democrats\u2019 bad, but also in the process it will ironically be given, for a time, more leeway to inflict damage on the jihadists. If the old liberal mantra was Abu Ghraib ad nauseam, the new one is that the treacherous Iraqis are releasing those killers that our brave soldiers arrest. While the Democrats may have meant to attack our present tactics in terms of naivet\u00e9 and incompetence, the charge often translates as insufficient force applied \u2014 giving Bush a window to do more, not less.<\/p>\n Third, for all the gloom about Iraq, it remains volatile. We have gone from wild exultation in April 2003 when Saddam\u2019s statue fell, to depression in 2004 during the pullback from Fallujah, to optimism at the elections and the Cedar Revolution in the spring of 2005, to gloom over the sectarian killing. Of course, the politics and punditry have adjusted accordingly.<\/p>\n Now all agree that the surge is not merely an increase of a few thousand troops, but a last effort to bring in new tactics and personnel to win or lose the war in 2007. Given the 2008 election to come, Democrats are crafting the necessary holding position for the next few months, which will allow them to readjust their past records either to defeat or to victory \u2014 something difficult to achieve should they now vote to cut off funds before the verdict is in.<\/p>\n Fourth, there is the \u201cwhat next?\u201d dilemma. It is fine for Democrats to talk of \u201credeployment\u201d out of Iraq, \u201cengagement\u201d with Syria and Iran, more soft power, Europeans and the United Nations, organizing \u201cregional interests,\u201d etc. \u2014 until one realizes that we did mostly just that for most of the 1990s.<\/p>\n And? We got Syrian absorption of Lebanon, Afghanistan as an al Qaeda base, a Libyan WMD program, worldwide serial terrorist attacks, Oslo, a Pakistani bomb, a full-bore Iranian nuclear program, Oil-for-Food \u2014 and 9\/11. If one doubts any of this, just reflect on why the Democrats have not offered any specific alternative plans. And when pressed, they usually talk only of \u201ctalking\u201d and thereby bring embarrassment to even their liberal questioners.<\/p>\n So, privately, some sober Democrats realize that the use of force in the present was a reaction to the frustrations of the past. For all the slurs against the neocons, it could be wise to stay mum, and see whether the stabilization of Afghanistan and Iraq might well, in fact, still provide the United States with options unavailable in the past. It could be even wiser to let Bush take the heat for the ordeal in Iraq, and the slanders against democratization, and then, if it all finally succeeds, to huff, snort, nit-pick about the messy details \u2014 and then take advantage of the favorable outcome.<\/p>\n In contrast to the complex daily Democratic triangulation, the Republican position has solidified and can\u2019t really be further nuanced. More troops, Secretary Rumsfeld, new tactics \u2014 these are no longer issues between a Sen. McCain and the administration. And the other front-runners likewise support the current effort, and its success or failure will help determine their own particular fates.<\/p>\n We are in a rare period in American political history, in which the battlefield alone will determine the next election, perhaps not seen since 1864. The economy, scandal, social issues, domestic spending, jobs, all these usual criteria and more pale in comparison to what happens in Iraq, where a few thousand brave American soldiers will determine our collective future.<\/p>\n \u00a92007 Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Democrats prepare for anything, and advocate nothing. by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online For all the talk of cutting off funds, redeployment, and pulling out, the new Democratic Congress will, at least for now, probably do nothing except speak impassioned words and make implicit threats. Here\u2019s why.<\/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":[761],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-XF","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3456,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/rumsfelds-rebuttal\/","url_meta":{"origin":3699,"position":0},"title":"Rumsfeld’s Rebuttal","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson City Journal A review of\u00a0Known and Unknown: A Memoir\u00a0by Donald Rumsfeld (Sentinel, 832 pp.) The wonder is not that Donald Rumsfeld was one of the longest-serving defense secretaries in history, but that George W. Bush nominated him in 2001 in the first place. As he makes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/opinion\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4720,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/american-cannibalism\/","url_meta":{"origin":3699,"position":1},"title":"American Cannibalism","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 14, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"We are doing to ourselves what the enemy could not. by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online Have we any memory of a man in a suit and tie, nearly three years ago wading through the din and panic amid the morning rubble, assuring millions of stunned Americans that the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "May 2004"","block_context":{"text":"May 2004","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2004\/may-2004\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4536,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/rumsfeld-a-personal-portrait\/","url_meta":{"origin":3699,"position":2},"title":"Rumsfeld: A Personal Portrait","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 1, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Commentary Vol. 116, Iss. 5 A Lost Breed Rumsfeld: A Personal Portrait\u00a0by Midge Decter (Regan Books\/HarperCollins. 220pp.) Donald Rumsfeld, we are told, had a bad summer and a worse fall. Reporters tried his patience in a testy press conference by implying that the Secretary of Defense\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "December 2004"","block_context":{"text":"December 2004","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2004\/december-2004\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4522,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/leave-rumsfeld-be\/","url_meta":{"origin":3699,"position":3},"title":"Leave Rumsfeld Be","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 23, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"He is not to blame for our difficulties by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online The\u00a0Washington Post\u00a0recently warned that doctors are urging interested parties of all types to get their flu shots before the \"scarce\" vaccine is thrown out. But how is such a surfeit possible when our national media\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "December 2004"","block_context":{"text":"December 2004","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2004\/december-2004\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5164,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-jackal-and-the-general\/","url_meta":{"origin":3699,"position":4},"title":"The Jackal and the General","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 16, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Public discontent serves the man at home not the soldier in the field. by Bruce S. Thornton Private Papers Like jackals sniffing a wounded antelope, a pack of retired generals are circling Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, calling for him to resign for bungling the war in Iraq by allegedly interfering\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3525,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-university-madhouse\/","url_meta":{"origin":3699,"position":5},"title":"The University Madhouse","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 1, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services Have American academics lost their collective minds? This week, Columbia University allowed Iran's loony President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to be a lecturer on its campus. 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