What it takes to win
: After Vietnam, the meme (were there memes back then?) was that we either should have done what it takes to win the war or gotten out a lot sooner. “What it takes” in that case was usually code for nuke ’em in Hanoi.
I wonder what the definition of “what it takes” is for Iraq.
It starts with more troops to establish and secure order for rebuilding and elections.
Andrew Sullivan says this morning what many have said: that the war was done well but the aftermath was — is — mishandled:
It’s worth saying here what we now know the president got wrong – badly wrong. There were never enough troops to occupy Iraq. The war-plan might have been brilliant, but the post-war plan has obviously been a failure. We needed more force and we needed more money sooner. The president has no excuses for not adjusting more quickly to this fact: he was told beforehand; he was told afterward; but he and the Defense Secretary were too pig-headed to change course. I still favor the war; but I cannot excuse the lapses and failures of the administration in the post-war….
