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Excuse me, but we never ‘won’ in Iraq
Don’t blame Obama for the rise of the Islamic State; its roots go deeper than that
October 16, 2014 12:00 AM
By Dennis Jett | http://www.post-gazette.com/
It’s
often been said that generals always fight the last war, especially if
they think they won it. That old adage remains as true today as it was
when the Maginot
Line was built in the 1930s to prevent a second German invasion of
France. And it is as true for politicians as it is for generals.
The
proof can be found in the current debate about the so-called Islamic
State, a terrorist organization so vile that even al-Qaida disowned it.
While it may
not be popular with fellow thugs, the Islamic State has managed to take
over much of Iraq and Syria. Predictably, Washington seems more
interested in assigning blame for the situation than dealing with it.
Sen.
John McCain, for instance, said this about the war in Iraq: “We had it
won. Gen. [David] Petraeus had the conflict won, thanks to the surge. If
we had left
a residual force behind, we would not be facing the crisis we are
today. Those are fundamental facts. We had a stable government. But the
president wanted out, and now we are paying a very heavy price.”
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