No Second-Guessing

David Grange, a retired U.S. Army brigadier general, cautions against second guessing the war in Iraq in a great opinion piece in yesterday’s Chicago Tribune.

Grange’s article, “Second-guessing War Only Does Harm” has seven themes. First, he makes the point that we have no choice but to prevail:

We are now committed to a successful conclusion in Iraq. We need success for our national security.

Second, Grange effectively refutes those who say Iraq is turning into another Vietnam.

Not true. There are similarities, but there are far more differences.

What is the same between the two conflicts is that Iraq is another living-room war. The news media's in-your-face, continuous 24/7 coverage has an immediate influence on the public.

Third, he is concerned about the effect of the constant stream of the negative news images out of Iraq and into our living rooms and how the enemy finds support in this:

The guerrillas smell blood. They know that the daily grind of losing American GIs affects the continued support of the American people, and tragic losses such as the Nov. 2 downing of a Chinook helicopter that killed 16 soldiers feed that frenzy.

Fourth, Grange explains that the politicians “questioning” the war are also playing into our enemies’ hand:

Political posturing in the U.S. plays to the guerrilla agenda. Candidates who use the war for political advancement by condemning U.S. involvement, now that this country and its citizen soldiers are committed to the fray, add to the enemy's strategy and hamper troop morale.

Fifth, Grange points out that our losses are not that great:

Even with 30 to 35 guerrilla attacks a day on coalition forces, and the losses America has incurred (an average of one GI killed and eight wounded every day), they are militarily insignificant.

Sixth, Grange commends the administration for adjusting as the situation changes:

There is an old Special Forces saying, "When the ground varies from the map, you got to go with the ground." It translates to the best-laid plans as well. And if what is found on the ground in Iraq is different than what was assumed for the going-in plan, then the plan must change.

There is nothing wrong with having the flexibility to adapt to the situation.

Seventh, grange insists that the administration needs to do better explaining what we are about in Iraq.

An open assessment and honest portrayal of this nation's involvement is necessary to gain and maintain the resolve of the American people. The why is--as strategy and intelligence analyst George Friedman has stated--"Iraq is a means to an end, not an end in itself." Iraq is the most strategic country in the region, and its transition to some form of democratic governance will affect the entire region, as well as influence the roots of growing hatred for the West.

Read the whole thing.