Iraq - Like Every Other American War
The Wall Street Journal hits on a point that’s been rattling around in my head for some time.
But like Lincoln in the Civil War and FDR in World War II, Mr. Bush eventually found the right men and the right strategy in Iraq.
Indeed, this is a recurring pattern in the wars of the English-speaking peoples. As Churchill (Peace Be Upon Him) himself once said:
The late M. Venizelos observed that in all her wars England — he should have said Britain, of course — always wins one battle — the last.
The military establishments which exist in peacetime are ill-suited for war-fighting. They tend to promote bureaucrats and time-servers to the highest ranks. Indeed, the lack of absolute commitment to the war has, in this particular case, impeded the necessary house-cleaning in a number of departments and areas but, in the most critical - the forces in the field in Iraq - it seems to have occurred.