The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 4 of 10)

br> -- Pete Chagnon /p>

Thanks for calling attention to Bush's lapses in leadership over the war in Iraq. However, I don't think the President could have rescued us from the failed "win their hearts and minds" strategy that has guided the entire campaign. We went into Iraq assuming that Arabs think like Americans, that forbearance is a virtue and dialog the path to peace. But as Oliver North has pointed out, Arabs think more like the Japanese of WWII. (The Japanese, not Muslims, invented suicide attacks.) Gen. MacArthur understood the Asian mind when he took the reins of government in occupied Japan. For the surrender ceremony aboard his ship, he wore a plain uniform with no tie and his shirt opened at the neck, while the Japanese delegation was decked out in their finest suits. MacArthur said he did that to humiliate the Japanese, because without humiliating them, they would never respect him, and without their respect, he could never rule them. Had we entered Iraq with MacArthur's attitude, no insurgency would have developed.

The tipping point toward occurred when we abandoned the first siege of Fallujah because of opposition from the Sunni clerics, who were in league with the terrorists. By withdrawing, we sent them a strong message that we are weak in spirit, and they can wear us down in time. Every sign of weakness acts to boost recruitment for terrorist groups. Instead of negotiating behind the scenes with the Sunni clerics who maintained ties with the terrorists, and thereby giving them power and legitimacy, we should have tried them in military courts and lynched them in a public square. Because we didn't, the Shia have endured years of murder at their hands. Today, the U.S. has placed our soldiers between the Shia and Sunnis, in effect protecting murderous Sunnis from Shia justice. We have forced the Shia to take justice into their own hands because we refuse to punish the Sunnis who aid and abet the terrorists. All Sunnis aren't guilty, but the majority are, because the terrorists could not operate as freely as they do with support from the populace.

p>What's the solution? Get out of the way! Pull our troops out and let the Shia and Kurds settle the problem. There would be no civil war; the Sunnis make up only 20 percent of the population. There might be a massacre of Sunnis, but the Shia and Kurds could end the so-called insurgency in a few months if we just get out their way. br> -- Roger D. McKinney br> Broken Arrow, Oklahoma /p>

I have very much enjoyed reading articles by Jed Babbin here and elsewhere for a few years now. Unless I am mistaken, Jed has been on a journey that is rapidly reaching its conclusion now. I have watched Jed start out almost reflexively supporting (or at least giving the benefit of the doubt) to George Bush. I have seen Jed offer good common sense advice to our POTUS. I have seen Jed (and still see Jed) as a dedicated and sincere supporter of our wonderful military folks.

Jed seems just barely short of declaring an all out split with the Bush administration on military and geo-political issues. May I humbly suggest that Mr. Babbin is right and Mr. Bush is profoundly and stubbornly wrong.

Mr. Bush's White House communication/pr operation is cluster #$%&. Mr. Bush's habit of "going wobbly" at the precisely worst moment is now a dependable given. He insists on uttering macho statements and opinions at the outset and then settling for a mushy moderation in very short order. He insists on being very firm against his base voters and distressingly PC with his opponents. He is VERY exasperating, and wrong. Our great military men and women deserve better and so does the nation. Bush and the rest of the elected GOP ought to be on their knees every night thanking God for the ineptitude and venality of the modern Democrat Party and its adherents.

p>Go Jed go!!! br> --

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