Predictably, the Iraq Study Group has come out with their recommendations and as expected they are a return to "Peace with Honor" and the fall of Saigon.  And predictably so, the usual suspects (Kerry, Cleland, and Gore to name a few) are out calling the Iraq War a mistake, a boondoggle, a quagmire, Vietnam, and the greatest mistake in US History (wouldn't that be slavery Mr. Ex. Vice-President?)

Here is what the Iraq Study Group should have said....

The last time the US successfully won a war was World War II.  Why?  Simple, because we fought a war and did not engage in an exercise in Public Relations.  During WW II we did not worry about how we were perceived by the world.  We went in and we kicked the ever-loving hell out of the Germans, Italians and Japanese.  We had General Patton and Admiral Bull Halsey who knew how to win and we had politicians who knew to let them do it.

Perhaps if we bombed mosques where the insurgents hid (during WW II if the German snipers hid in the bell towers of churches and cathedral we thought nothing of taking out the bell tower with a well place mortar round) instead of playing to the nimrods in the press who were sympathetic with our enemies, perhaps our enemies and their backers in Iran and Syria would have known we meant business.  Perhaps if we deported muslim men who were here on educational visas and sent them home and then actually checked the bags of the people who fit the profile of the terrorists our enemies would have seen our resolve.

We did not lose Vietnam because our enemy was smarter than us or stronger than us or better prepared than us.  We lost because our politicians lost the resolve necessary to fight a war properly.  The majority of the public would support our efforts if we were clear in our goals.  We lost because of fools like John Kerry who went to Vietnam to build a resume to run for political office and then came home and slammed the military and the soldiers they left behind to pander to the idiots of the peace movement.

It is real simple to win in Iraq and we still can if we simply do the following:
1. Ignore the UN as they would rather support tyrants and dictators than free democracy
2. Inform our allies and anyone else that we intend to win at all costs
3. Inform the civilians in Iraq that we intend to crush the insurgents once and for all and that we will do everything possible to protect the civilian population while encouraging them to help identify the insurgents.
4. And this is the biggest thing.  We need to take the gloves off and fight the war to win, not to get good press.

This is how we won WW II.  Was it brutal, yes.  Did people die, yes.  Did we win and allow the freedom loving people of Germany and Japan engage in self-determination, yes.  The Iraqi people deserve this chance and they deserve a total effort.

Many may disagree with me.  Many will not.  I don't care because if we lose this war, we will embolden terrorists and penny-ante dictators all over the world to take liberties with us because we were more concerned with appearances than in defeating our enemies and making the world safe.

Publius