‘Time Is Now the Biggest Enemy in Iraq’
Rick Moran is a thoughtful, eloquent, long winded and sometimes infuriating conservative blogger who has the rare virtue of being able to change his mind.
Moran has had a catharsis about the Iraq war that is well worth reading in its entirety.
Money quotes:
I have come to the conclusion over the last few days that, due to domestic conditions here in the US and the inability of the Iraqi government and society to deal in a timely manner with the political problems that must be solved if Iraq is to have a viable, multi-sectarian society the United States is on the verge of suffering a humiliating defeat in Iraq. A perfect storm of almost non-existent public support for our war aims coupled with US pressure on the Iraqis to shoehorn radical changes in their society, their constitution, and their politics into an unrealistic and inevitably, an impossible time frame will ultimately doom our efforts to take any military success achieved via the surge and turn it into progress on the political front.
. . . So the question ultimately rests with the President and, to a lesser extent with the Democrats; will politics trump the national interest? Will this stiff-necked President who has refused to admit many mistakes in the past be capable of demonstrating such largeness of character?
He has risen to the occasion in the past. He must do so again.
More here at Moran’s Rightwing Nuthouse.
4 Responses to “‘Time Is Now the Biggest Enemy in Iraq’”
I’ve quoted Rick Moran over the years and one suggestion I had was that he changed the name of his blog. Yes. He has a conservative blog and he will proudly describe it as such. But he really is not lock step both on his take on some issues or the way he will lay out his position on issues. There is a “blogspeak” that can make a reader visit blogs less as time goes on. He has his own style. I’ve had problems deciding which good quote of his to use when I do roundups on big issues.
Maybe the name is deserved. Look more closely at the quote, Joe. parts of it seem to indicate that his epiphany is still colored by partisanship.
Is there really non-existent support for the currently cited aims of the war? Not that I’m aware of. The lack of support is for the war as it currently exists. IMO the current administration has screwed up in so many ways for so long they have dug us into a hole of their making that is so deep that the civil war and inability of Iraqi Sunnis and Shias to get along makes a “victory” virtually impossible. Then there is his discussion of the President. When has he really risen to the occasion when it comes to admitting he’s wrong and changing course as drastically as he needs to?
I agree with Jim S.
When has he risen to any occasion, admitted he was wrong and changed course drastically? He did get rid of Rumsfeld, and replaced staying the course with the surge, but that’s about it. He admitted Abu Ghraib was a mistake but no one beyond a few NCO’s was ever held responsible for it.
I do read Rick’s blog regularly. Anyone who’s followed him over the last year or so would know he’s not a blind Bush partisan and has been highly critical of the war’s execution.