Iraq: Just Like that other War...

No, not Vietnam -- the real parallel seems to me to be the Civil War. I am no history scholar, and the "War Between The States" is not my forte.

All the same, I was watching General Wesley Clark's commentary (rebutting) the President's speech the other night. And I thought "My God! It's the reincarnation of General McClellan!" He'll run in '08 as the anti-war candidate against what will be a pretty complete victory.

My pals at the WSJ Ed Page run with this meme. The real parallel is not strategic or military, but the behavior of the opposition.

Wanted: A Constructive Opposition

Scanning the commentary after President Bush's Fort Bragg speech on Iraq, our eyes were caught by a headline in The New York Times: "Wanted: A Policy." True, the advice was dated 1861, not 2005, and the President at whom it was directed wasn't George W. Bush, but Abraham Lincoln. But you get the idea; plus ça change.

They take a few whacks at Gen. Clark, Rep. Pelosi, Sen. Reid -- but then they really pile on Senator Joe Biden:

Then there is Delaware Senator Joe Biden, whose thoughts on the subject are particularly worth attending to because he is the Democratic Party's lead spokesman on the issue. Consider his track record to date:
• In April 2004, Mr. Biden predicted there would be "absolute chaos" in Iraq following the handover of sovereignty to the interim Iraqi government of Ayad Allawi. "Who's going to be the referee when [U.S. Ambassador Paul] Bremer leaves?" he demanded to know on CBS's Early Show. But Mr. Allawi helped smooth the transition to the current representative government, and he has taken his place as a leader of the opposition.

• In December 2004, Mr. Biden said prospects for a successful election in Iraq were "receding rapidly" because of Administration mismanagement; a month later, he predicted the election was "going to be ugly." But the January 30 elections were peaceful and inspiring.

• Earlier this month, Mr. Biden called the de-Baathification of the Iraqi army one of the "major mistakes" of U.S. policy, and called for Iraqis to rehire some of Saddam Hussein's old colonels. But it was precisely the April 2004 effort to re-enlist Baathist officers in the so-called Fallujah Brigade that was among the Administration's greatest mistakes so far in Iraq.

The Senator's latest ideas are to accept an Egyptian offer to train Iraqi police and to get NATO to deploy some troops to police the border with Syria. On the former, we weren't previously aware that the Cairo constabulary was a paragon of efficiency and probity, which is perhaps why the Iraqi government has discreetly turned away the offer. On the latter, has he talked to the French? They've barely allowed NATO forces to help in Afghanistan, much less be deployed in numbers in Iraq.

We stress Mr. Biden's views because he strikes us as one Democrat who understands the stakes in Iraq and seems genuinely interested in a good outcome. The thinness of even his policy alternatives suggests that Democrats really don't have any better ideas than the two-pronged Bush strategy of 1) supporting a new, inclusive democratic Iraqi government and 2) training and deploying Iraqi security forces as rapidly as possible.

I'm willing to admit that it might be good politics. They cannot compete on a serious policy vis-à-vis the War on Terror, they can capture and inculcate the anti-war crowd, and hope anti-war fever catches on.

Decent politics -- but it didn't work too well for McClellan...

Freedom on the March Posted by jk at June 30, 2005 12:02 PM