The American Spectator

p> I agree with Jed’s guarded optimism. It appears the President’s will to win this campaign is still alive and kicking. I certainly hope he does “change the course”. I might also add, that in 1941 Adolf Hitler not only had one of the finest army’s in military history, but he also had some of the best “minds” working for him in the br> Wehrmacht (von Manstein, von Rundstedt, Guderian, Hoth, and von Blumentritt, to name just a few). In the end, thankfully the Wehrmacht was vanquished despite their preponderance of talent, superior training, and in many cases superior weapons. In the end, the problem was at the top, their senior generals inclusive (Keitel, Jodl, and von Braunstisch). /p> p>We lost Vietnam because the political leadership wasn’t up the challenge they brought upon themselves. We could lose in Iraq for the simple fact that we allow the enemy the advantage of picking and choosing the battlefield. In this case the real enemy is Iran and Syria. Their minions could simply lay low during the surge, and wait us out. Our unwillingness to cause collateral damage, conduct joint air/special ops strikes into Iran and Syria doesn’t bode well. And no matter who is at the helm or manning the CINCs desk, failure will surely result. br> — JP br> Mishawaka /p>

As usual, Jed Babbin nails the subject well. The appointment of new, true warriors like Fox and Petraeus may just allow us to turn the tide as far as the Iraq War is concerned and break the back of the insurgency. His 5-point strategy in the latter part of the article is spot-on!

I would like to see Fox and Petraeus take a page (or 2 or 6) from retired Army Col. David Hunt, one of the best military experts at Fox News. Hunt advocates in chapter 7 of his book, They Just Don’t Get It, further expansion and better use of our Special Forces (Seals, Rangers, Green Berets and others) in tracking down and exterminating the vermin that are causing the problems currently occurring in Iraq. While I have monumental respect for all our fighting men and women, we need to unleash these professional in order to put an end to the enemy. And target number one should be the fat, ugly boy with bad teeth, Muqtada-al-Sadr, and the rest of his motley crew militia. This dirtbag should have been taken out early on before he was able to put together his sizable band of renegades, and not doing so was a big mistake. Enough of this namby-pamby approach to war, we’ve handled the insurgents with kid-gloves for far too long a period of time. This is war, and we need to fight it like we want to win it. We fought basically a traditional ground war in toppling Saddam Hussein and now we need to change tactics.

p>Now we need to take on the terrorist resistance, and to quote Col. Hunt: “Let me put it simply. Kill them all”. br> — Jim Bjaloncik br> Stow, Ohio /p>