Posted by Damozel | After much incautious vaunting of their certainties prior to and well into the invasion , Hitchens (for whom I have a grudging affection) and others for whom I have no affection at all are clearly desperate to be proved right about something, even if they have to move the goalposts to win a point. As I've said, any news from Iraq tending to suggest that it won't prove quite the disaster that it might have been is good news.
But even hawkish Hitch isn't certain that the good news is genuine or that any gains are lasting. He says:
I am not at all certain that any of this apparently good news is really genuine or will be really lasting. However, I am quite sure both that it could be true and that it would be wonderful if it were to be true. What worries me about the reaction of liberals and Democrats is not the skepticism, which is pardonable, but the dank and sinister impression they give that the worse the tidings, the better they would be pleased. The latter mentality isn't pardonable and ought not to be pardoned, either. (Something To Give Thanks For)
I am sick of hearing this from self-styled "conservatives." I am pleased to hear of any progress, but that doesn't change how I feel about the war. It doesn't change how I feel about the invasion, about "Mission Accomplished," about the Administration's absurd delay in waiting years to get around to "the surge," or about the need to get American troops out as soon as feasible. Democrat though I am, I always said we needed to stay as long as we must to get the Iraqis in a position to put themselves back together again.
Keeping all this in mind, it nonetheless does begin to look as if Iraqis may in fact have started to recover command over their own destiny, and also as if America may have helped them to do so. The surge is only a part of this story. Quite obviously, if the Sunnis of Anbar Province had not of their own volition turned on the hideous forces of al-Qaida, then no amount of extra troops could have made the difference. But some combination of the two things appears to have altered the chemistry, and not just in that province, and all the reporters and soldiers I can get hold of (who include some direly skeptical people in both categories) seem agreed on one thing: The forces of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi stink in the nostrils of the Arab world, and have been—here I borrow some words of Thomas Paine—"in point of generalship … outwitted, and in point of fortitude outdone." Bin Ladenism in Iraq has been dealt a stinging defeat. Surely this is something to celebrate.
I am quite prepared to do so. The sooner the Iraqis "recover command over their own destiny," the sooner we can get out of there and start attending to our many other problems.
I would much prefer for our troops to leave on a high note than a low one. And I don't know any sane person who feels otherwise or who isn't happy that Saddam is gone.
But let us put this success into perspective. Suppose Bush had run for president on a platform of invading Iraq in order to topple Saddam Hussein and bring democracy to the region? Suppose he had promised in advance to spend immense amounts of tax dollars in the effort to do so?
Was invading Iraq in my country's best interests? Was it the best way to conquer the jihadism that led to 911? While I'm happy about the "stinging defeat" of "Bin Ladenism" in Anbar Province, I need to see how this affects "Bin Ladenism" elsewhere. I also need to see that our Iraq adventure hasn't spawned or "emboldened" other embittered jihadist groups that don't necessarily report to al-Quaida. Compared to Hitch, I know nothing about Iraq, but I do know something about human nature, human history, and the tendency of violence in one generation to spawn violence in the next.
Let's just say I remain skeptical. And---as noted---even Hitch is only cautiously optimistic. Conservatives longing to jeer "Toldjah!" aren't going to meet with the humbled response we all know they were counting on. I realize that gloating is second nature to a lot of them. But to get me to hang my head in shamed acknowledgment that it was they and theirs, not I and mine, who were right all along is going to take a damn sight more evidence than they can yet muster.
As for whole-hearted rejoicing in an American "victory," as far as I and most people I know are concerned, George W. Bush and all who sail in him used up all the cheers, accolades, and confetti to which he and they were entitled when they declared----at the start of a very long war----"Mission Accomplished."
Discussion in Memeorandum here.
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LINKED,
Hitchens, Something to Give Thanks For (Slate)
Hitchens, Tribal Ignorance (Slate)
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