Is victory on horizon?
Bernell DorroughWhen will the United States be able to claim ‘victory’ over Iraq? In essence, what is the ‘victory’ that the U.S. is striving for in its campaign against Iraq?
Paul Rothstein:
That would be victory “in” Iraq, thank you. I hope the distinction translates well into Arabic. As for “victory,” we should reserve that word for the military campaign, and in fairness to the troops we should keep it simple: remove Saddam Hussein and his top leadership from power, achieve the unconditional surrender of his army and eliminate guerilla forces that would act against our troops or the new leadership. These conditions are now the foundation for the metaphorical victories of civil society in Iraq-the victories by politicians (remember Bob Dole’s distinction between enemies and opponents?) and lawyers (let’s be realistic) and accountants (let’s be very realistic). The big question is not the meaning of victory but whether we know a path to a civil society in Iraq that begins with victory. If we fail at that we will still declare victory and come home, perhaps with a new ally in the Middle East, but we will also owe the French an apology.
Larry May:
From the beginning this war has been all about politics: U.S. electoral politics. Military victory was assured from the beginning of the war. So, why hasn’t the U.S. declared victory, given the predictable military “victory” over the Iraqi military? One possible answer is that since troops will stay until stability occurs, our goal could be said to be the achieving of stability in Iraq. This would be an odd goal since when we started the war, Iraq had stability already. But if the instability drags on for a while, the U.S. voters will forget that the instability was caused by the Bush administration. So, when stability returns it will seem that Bush has done something noble, he can then declare victory, and we will all gladly reelect him. On this view, Bush will achieve victory in the Iraq war when he is reelected for a second term as President.
Popularity: unranked [?]
Related Posts
Print This Post