The goal, always, was to establish a “petri dish” of moderate democracy in the Middle East, as huan said way up the thread. Unseating Saddam was part of it. Dealing with the “insurgency,” whether homegrown or foreign, is part, because it has to be. But just as important a part is hovering over the nascent democracy while it figures out how to be self-sustaining. As such, it’s the second general election, and the third, that count even more than the first: the first shows the will of the Iraqi people to attempt this experiment; the second and third show their will to continue it even though some potentially large minority will be disappointed by the result.

Think about how often the people who lose elections in the United States throw around the word “disenfranchisement.” And we have going on two and a half centuries’ experience at this representative government thing, a lot of it in relative isolation with no significant threats to its continuance. Iraq doesn’t have either time or isolation on its side; it’s a brand-new democratic country peopled by three big ethnic factions with centuries of bad blood between them, and with allies of at least the Sunni faction slavering at (we hope it’s “at,” anyway) the borders for an opportunity to come in and subvert the democratic process. al Qaeda in Iraq has had it; they may not realize it yet, or they may want to go down fighting, but the biggest challenge we face in Iraq going forward is getting to that second and third election.

This is not, perhaps, sufficient as a milestone for withdrawal. Unfortunately it’s like a definition for obscenity: all legal wrangling aside, basically you know it when you see it. By the time the Iraqis have fashioned a coalition government and made it through some hotly contested votes within their parliament, we’ll be able to see whether they, the people, appear to have the stomach to accept that representative government contains within itself the absolute certainty that some people are always going to get the dirty end of the stick on every issue.

If the Iraqi people, down the line, were to take to the streets and loot and riot violently, kidnap political opponents, declare fatwas against one another, stuff like that, well, maybe we’d have to regroup and turn to a more realpolitik short-term policy of aggressively supporting the faction that’s best for us – but we’re nowhere near that point yet. (It’s worthwhile to keep in mind that we have problems of these sorts ourselves sometimes, too. Maybe we’d find ourselves with the political will to keep biting our fingernails and waiting for the next election… Time will tell.) Iraqi nationalism has a good shot, though it’s not by any means a shoe-in; I just want to see it have the best chance possible.

We are so powerful, our leaders are afraid to unleash the full might of the Marine Corps, the Special Forces, the Navy, and the Air Force.

They are scared not that we will fail to take a military objective, that they take on faith, rather they are afraid of how it will LOOK.

If they were worried about failing, then they might not worry about it failing, you might think. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case, since LBJ worried both about how many casualties would look and he also worried about failing.

Melannie Phillips has a nice shot of anti-Israeli propaganda in the US. The Harvard incident, if you recall.

She makes a good example of what happens when you allow the enemy to own the battlespace of men’s minds. You are forever on the defensive. Powerline, good though it is, can only defend against such a document. To truly defeat their propaganda, requires that they be pushed on the defensive. Otherwise, Powerline and other blogs will forever be on the defensive, trying to prevent an eenmy victory.

The terroists don’t know enough of history and they don’t care goesh.

They believe what they see. You can’t change their beliefs in American weakness, until you change what they see. Since President won’t change any real military or civilian policy, such as execution of terroists caught on the battlefield through tribunal or commander decision, nothing much happens.

If I were a terrorist, I would not ignore America’s ability to bleed and die in time of war.

Endlessly reinventing yourselves is nothing but a waste of time.

Google Shintoism.

Another point that I think needs to be made, is what happens when enemy propaganda works.

And what happens, really, is that you get someone like steve, who cares about Americans, to fight against the war effort because he doesn’t want to see any further helpless soldiers die in a gruesome and helpless manner.

The primary component to break someone spiritually is not pain, pain is nothing that a strong warrior cannot withstand. No, the primary component in spiritually breaking someone is making them feel helpless.

The strongest man is nothing but fodder, once he is made helpless in his mind.

The enemy uses IEDs, not because it kills Americans since militarily they don’t do much at all, but because they know the media will cover it and people like steve will SEE it. Ever hear of seeing is believing? Our eyes are genetically programmed to believe what we see, a legacy of our prey/predator days of survival. And the single reason why propaganda became such a powerful tool with the advent of television, as Neo noted.

There are two kinds of people the terroists seek to influence. Those who support America, and those who don’t support America.

For the supporters of America, which I assume steve is part of, the images of American casualties break your heart because they seem so helpless. Like little kittens strangled out in the rain, while the strangler gets off scott free and laughs about it. Look at those little kittens, crawling through the mud, don’t it break your heart?

The Way of the Sword is as much mental as physical.

For those who seek to destroy America, the terroists are able to provide IED and VBiED and Mosul suicide IEDs for those anti-Americans to use to buttress their positions politically, and to weaken the proponents of America.

The policy makers of America thus are hampered in two separate fronts. The domestic enemy, which is the great majority of the Democratic party. And domestic allies, the great majority of Republicans. Both complain and assault the policy makers.

Look at the recent debate about body armor. It came exclusively because of IEDs. Now improved body armor might save one life, but what would save more lives would be to execute the terroists once they have been drained of information rather than releasing them to kill more Americans.

But there is no political force to propose such legislation, because you don’t see it on tv. And you don’t see it on tv because the terroists and our domestic enemies don’t allow you to see it on tv. The terroists try very hard not to allow their enemies to understand just how valuable American stupidity in catching and releasing terroists are, to their jihad. As was noted here before, the terroists gain more and more experience after they get out of jail. It is one of the reasons why Israel is still fighting Palestine. They don’t kill the terroists they do find. Here we have a 10 year old child with 3rd degree burns and in critical care, not recieving proper medical treatment because their family can’t afford it. Then we have the terroist that tried to blow the child up, sleeping in the NEXT POCKING ROOM, treated by the American military doctors because he was a CASUALTY of the other side. That, is more of a problem than any kind of “body armor”.

It is not surprising that Bush wouldn’t pay any attention to catch and release of terroists. He doesn’t even pay attention to the Mexican border with the catch and release of Mexican rapists and murderers, doing their profession on American soil and American citizens. Why should Bush change military policy, if there is no public awareness of the problem?

The terroists make us aware of problems that they want us to fix. The terroists hide problems that they don’t want us to fix, by making us take our eye off of the real problems.

This kind of propaganda, the highest echelon propaganda available to humanity, is so subversive and so subtle that people like Steve, somehow thinks that his beliefs were made by his own free will.

Only it wasn’t.

Some may believe that nuclear weapons are the ultimate weapon of mass destruction. But they are wrong. If I can convince a nation to suicide, then that ability to persuade is more destructive than any nuclear weapon. Why? Because I can use it and nobody notices that it is I doing the killing. With a nuke, there is no subtlety, there is no doubt, there is no plausible denial. With propaganda, psychological operations, and subversive projects I can use them to their fullest extent, without getting caught. The genkai, thus, of propaganda is much higher than WMDs. The limit to that which is placed upon the weapon, in how it is used.

In the end, people killed by nukes is obviously smaller than killed by bad ideas, purposefully bad ideas. (Nazi, Palestine, Stalin, Pol Pot, Japan, I could go on)

It is far more efficient to convince your enemies to kill themselves, than it is to do the deed yourself. That has been human wisdom since the advent of time itself.

The solution is not to convince people that the terroists are controlling their beliefs through carefully selected sound bites and images, the solution is to push back with counter-propaganda of the highest quantity and quality. PUsh the enemy out of the battlespace of men’s minds, back to their dark dungeons of despair.

It will be a hard fight. Because the Islamists have had decades to fortify their position. We will not win this war by being defensive minded. We have to attack, audacity and more audacity is required.

In storming the fortress of men’s minds, controlled by Islam, we will take horrendous casualties. But those casualties on D-Day were required, if only because the French betrayed themselves and their allies in giving Hitler a set of fortifications.

If we lose, then future generations will have nothing but contempt for those of us who fought a vile and wasteful struggle. When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle. – Duke

If we win, then all will be forgiven.

There is no substitute for victory.

Know thy enemy, and know thy self. Do yourself a favor and study psychology and propaganda.

11/24/1944 USS Liscome Bay sunk, 644 men lost

VFW Magazine, August 2005

…talk about war dead