Redundancy

Congressman Murtha ignited a firestorm and I have no idea why. Of course, everyone wants to play it as if a war hero has called for a withdrawal, and that means that it must be true. However, not taking anything away from the admirable record of Congressman Murtha, the fact that I once worked in a library does not add any legitimacy to me were I to call for improved libraries. Why should Murtha's record be a criteria for judging his comments.

Moreover, although he is unique in calling for immediate change in strategy, his recommended strategy is little different from the one that we are currently following. Although he does want us to leave the country of Iraq, he still wants a rapid reaction force in the region, leaving many soldiers deployed anyway. The current strategy does not call for Americans to remain ad infinitum in Iraq. Instead as the Iraqis take control they fade into the background in Iraq. The only possible difference for the soldiers is based on the assumption that violence follow regardless of where in Iraq the soldiers are, and violence would not erupt in a new environ.

In fact the only real shock is that Congressman Murtha has said what is actually true, only overstating his case slightly. In fact, we have won this war. American and Iraqi forces go where they want and do what they want; the insurgents try to stop them and fail. The insurgency has not even slowed the progress of Iraq in a significant manner. In a short time the Iraqis will be able to fight on their own, and they will succeed, with minor help from us. Instead of looking at this as a call for defeat, we should recognize that we have won. Only our own self conciousness, and and the perverse desires of those in our midst for defeat can turn this unmitigated victory into a mirage of a defeat.