"I Told You So!"

Yesterday all over the web - talk was about Clyburn's (D-S.C.) statement that success in Iraq would be "a real big problem for us." I sent TRCNAK Steve Shippert's assessment of that statement and this is his response:

This follows human nature. Years before W became President; I was watching a big college game at my Mom’s house during a vacation. I’m a big fan of my alma mater, and so was my cousin’s husband, Mike. So, we planned out the beer and popcorn, and everyone wore our colors. It was a rivalry game, and no one in the room was pulling for the other team.

We are down a couple of touchdowns, and Mike begins berating our coach. He says all kinds of foul things and (because he coaches high school football) points out all of the errors continuously. It’s too much for my brother, so they start arguing. No one can enjoy the game; everyone wants it to be over. Mike sulks in the corner. I’m guessing, but he probably wanted us to lose to vindicate his assessments.

We win! My team pulls it off. Everyone is euphoric, except Mike. He and my cousin take off before the celebratory party starts. We don’t see him for months. He doesn’t want to be told “I told you so!” My brother won’t even talk to him, and says he’s a fool. A couple of years later, we talk (Mike and I), and he is no longer a fan!!! Wow! He is so “bought in” to his feelings of being wrong that he completely abandons his team.

This is my fear. The Democrats will take their half of the nation and divest of the U.S. Team. Kinda like they did in the 1860’s when they seceded. It’s scary. They are more afraid of being told “I told you so!” than their patriotism to the team. The U.S. will have to watch them closely because they will drag us down so that WE lose too! They want us to feel their humiliation and pain because they are immature fools. They can’t stand to be wrong, and they will punish us for it because we are a reminder.

TRCNAK confines his replies to those Democrats who have continuously beaten up "W" over Iraq and wish for its failure simply because it would be "W's" failure too. I'm going to expand his "I Told You So" to anyone Republican, Democrat, Independent, Conservative and Liberal that thinks Iraq is a failure and a lost cause...specifically conservative/libertarian writer Rick Moran of Right Wing Nut House.

On Monday in response to the NYT editorial by Hanlon and Pollack he wrote "A Short Post About Grasping at Straws" in which he states:

“There is no military victory to be had. If Bush and the rest of you believe that, I might ask victory against who? Against what? To what end?”

Say what? No chance of victory? For someone as well read as Mr. Moran he seems completely ignorant of the complexities of nation building and our own history of building a republic based upon "Sustainable Stability." Is Iraq a mess? It sure is and so is Detroit, Baltimore and a host of other cities in the US as well as a few fiscally challenged states, but we aren’t writing them off and re-deploying from them are we?

Mr. Moran is not unlike the majority in America in that he wants his results NOW and if they can't come quick enough he is willing to right off the efforts of the millions of Iraqis who are trying in the face of unimaginable stresses to make something of their fledgling nation.

Could the Iraqi Government do more? Unquestionably, yes! But on the other hand is our own Congress doing any better?

It seems to me that Mr. Moran - who by the way, has always held the position that Iraq was not a good idea; is insistent upon being right and is the one willing to grasp at any straw he can find to prove his point, all to be able to say, “I Told You So.” To that end he is no better than the Democratic Congress.

Iraq is a lot of things, but it is not an American failure, victory is possible, and the current strategy seems to be working, much better than the previous strategies. What bothers most of America and Mr. Moran is the reality that Iraq is going to take time, more time than they are willing to give it, and that is the failure of Iraq. American impatience will be the down fall of Iraq. Instant gratification is not possible when you are conducting nation building, yet the “defeatists” hang their attitude not on the accomplishments but the timeline.

Timelines are appropriate when you are building a house, but they can not be used as anything other than a guide when building a nation. Surprisingly the peace at all costs crowd are willing to give peace efforts all the time it needs regardless of how many lives are lost in the process, if the peace process in Gaza is any example the Iraqis are far better off under the current process than any of their peace processes. Why won’t they allow us the time needed to achieve a true peace? Their bumper sticker, “War is Not the Answer” is correct. War is not the answer, peace is the answer, war is simply one of the political methods we are employing to achieve the answer.

Victory in Iraq is achievable, and to believe otherwise is either based upon immature racially motivated beliefs or complete naiveté.

I hate the “I Told You So” game, but how about we hold out and focus our efforts on bringing stability to a region that has never known stability and then say to the rest of the world, “I Told You So” instead of sulking in the corner afterwards and dividing our country even more.