Fairweather Friends

By John

Another OPFOR op-ed from our favorite guest blogger, Richard S. Lowry.

Fairweather Friend
IN OUR RECENT HISTORY we have abandoned the Kurds, Shiites and Afghanis, not to mention our shameless withdrawal of support of the Mountainyards and our friends and allies in Saigon. Lord help the Somalis that befriended America in the 90s, for we deserted them, too. The World knows that we will turn tail and walk away from what was a noble cause in Iraq because the American people are weak and are so self-centered that we withdraw when the situation gets complicated.

After twelve generations, I am ashamed at what America has become. Most Americans are so self-centered in their daily lives that they can’t take the time to learn about what is really happening in the Middle East. They can’t tell you who Muqtada al-Sadr is, or even if he is Shia or Sunni. They are more interested in learning who is the father of Anna Nichole’s baby rather than finding a way to win in Iraq.

We are at WAR and it is time for the American people (including the members of Congress) to back our troops. It is time to drop the political mumbo-jumbo of “I support the troops, but I don’t support the war.” What the hell does that mean anyway? Does that mean that you have a yellow magnetic bumper sticker, but you don’t want to give our brave men and women the reinforcements they badly need to succeed?

Three times that I can easily recall, the American military moved into a volatile area and cleared out the insurgents. On all three occasions, once in Fallujah and twice in Baghdad neighborhoods, our forces were stretched too thin to hold these liberated areas. So, our forces withdrew. President Bush wants a completely new strategy. He wants our military to move into Baghdad, clear the neighborhoods of ALL the violent factions and then hold so that children can safely go to school and fathers can work to support their families in peace.
No one is talking about the biggest part of the new plan. Everyone is focusing on 21,000 more troops for Iraq. The biggest part of the plan is non-military. The most important part of the plan is to bring vital services back to Baghdad’s neighborhoods. We will bring reliable electricity, clean drinking water, workable sewer systems and garbage collection to Baghdad communities. But, before we can accomplish these improvements, we must bring security to the people and our military needs 21,000 fresh troops to accomplish this task.

And what will happen to the people of Iraq, if we maintain the status quo? Defeat will be certain as the country spirals into a civil war which most analysts believe will spread throughout the region. If we prematurely withdraw, this civil war will be accelerated and millions of people will die. The World will face a catastrophe as never seen in our lifetime.

If we withdraw, or do nothing, the 2008 elections will be won on the platform that the current administration bungled the war in Iraq. What these fair-weather politicians will not speak of is that they caused our defeat by withdrawing their support at the most critical point of the war. And the people of the World will not be surprised. America will have left another job undone and abandoned their friends and allies to a fate worse than death.

Richard S. Lowry is the award winning author of the best selling book, “Marines in the Garden of Eden,” Berkley, New York, 2006. He is an internationally recognized military historian and author. Richard served in the U.S. Navy Submarine Service from 1967-1975 and spent the time from 1975 to 2002 designing sophisticated integrated circuits for everything from aircraft avionics to home computers. Richard turned to serious writing after 9/11 and published “The Gulf War Chronicles,” iUniverse, New York, in 2002. For more information on Richard and his work, visit www.marinesinthegardenofeden.com or www.gwchronicles.com.

February 14, 2007 09:33 PM The Long War

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Comments

Lowry is spot on.

I don't know whether to cheer or cry.

I geuss I'll cheer Lowry for speaking out, and cry for those we abandon.

Lawrence · February 15, 2007 08:12 AM

It is nice and I do agree, mostly, with what he says. I think it will take far more than 21,000 troops to establish security in Iraq, but that's just numbers.

The trouble with all this is that Sun Tzu once wrote something about knowing oneself before committing to battle. The administration did not know or understand the American people. Quite simply, aside from an outright attack on itself, the American people have a short attention span and a shorter tolerance for hard endeavors.

This is why you hear few people harping on the Afghanistan operation. Regardless of whether one believes Saddam had a hand in 9-11 or not (and, personally, I don't think he did), you cannot argue that the Administration made a piss-poor argument on that point, did a poor job justifying the war in Iraq, and did a poor job of mobilizing the population for the fight.

Joel · February 15, 2007 01:56 PM

Well I don't necessarily disagree Joel, but I'm not sure how what you're saying works into Richard's main point?

John · February 15, 2007 03:31 PM

Honor:

"I shall be true, for there are those that trust me."

America: Friend to all people. And peoples.

The only way to have a friend is to be one. Let's get it right this time.

Rich MacCabe · February 15, 2007 04:00 PM

AMEN!

Up to this point, our size and strength has protected us from the consequences of our past perfidity. There may come a day when that is not the case and future generations will pay dearly for the fact that we as a people are neither trusted nor liked by nations that might be natural and necessary allies.

Gus · February 16, 2007 02:59 PM