Austin Bay writes the Instapundit:
I must respond to those who "want a breather" or wish "to take time out" from the war.
There is no time out in war. Occasionally soldiers get R&R, but that means someone else is pulling guard duty or running patrols. I see Mickey Kaus says "we need a break" and Peggy Noonan is worried that the American people want a breather because current history is too "dramatic." I read Peggy's essay and I get the distinct impression her brilliantly conceived column springs from her own personal weariness-- maybe I'm wrong, but she explicitly tells us she's on vacation. Over at andrewsullivan.com, Andrew Sullivan wrote (linking to Noonan) that he had expressed similar thoughts ("Americans are drained"). I appreciate their openness and honesty; I hope they'll appreciate mine. I enjoy thoroughly Sullivan's commentary, and I'm certain he would be the first to say he can climb in his Cape Cod hammock and blog because soldiers put on their helmets and slog-- and don't quit. Perceptive, honest Americans like Noonan, Sullivan, and Kaus understand that quite well. I make the point as a reminder, a useful reminder. Believe me, the hammock is far preferable to the helmet. I would love to be in my hammock in the Texas Hill Country right now (95 degrees in Austin is far cooler than 119 degrees in Baghdad). But this is helmet time. We --the lot of us, all Americans-- are a long haul war, a constant test of will requiring consistent, insistent effort.
I see that effort given every day here in Iraq. Check the photo you ran of those two young soldiers from the 81st Brigade (Washington State National Guard). I snapped it, at sunset, right after they had returned from a patrol. I see the same vignette every morning, every evening. The smiles break out despite the fatigue-- and then the troops buckle up and do it again. Blood, sweat, toil and tears: that's not simply Churchillian poetry, that's the price of victory, and it's the product of spine. This peculiar war will take years to win, long, focused years of trial and error, mistake and success, but a breather, a time out?
"Time out" is a mirage of the chattering class. Credit Peggy's and Andrew's antennae for culling out the driving emotional angst behind the chatter. Hate to say it, but the call for "time out" Noonan fears may be another case of Baby Boomers who can't separate Hollywood war from the real thing. Hollywood wars end in a couple of hours. Real earthly hells have no intermission. In current GI lingo, "the enemy has a vote" (the enemy can exercise his will, and act). Take a break and the enemy votes. On 9/11 our enemy went to the polls. We were either going to work, eating breakfast, or lollygagging in bed.
Before I head off to a meeting, let me play history prof for a second. I see several analogs between 1944 and 2004. Fact is, I started a column on that subject before I left for Iraq, but long nights on the ranges at Ft Hood spinning up for deployment left it a sketch. Imagine calling for "Time Out" right after D-Day, which broke Fortress Europe, or during Saipan, which broke the Japanese "inner ring" island defense (many in the Japanese military thought we'd never pay the price to break it). Hey, FDR, we've made the deep offensive penetration, can we take a break? The analogy has weaknesses, as do all historical comparisons. That being said, I think we're in the strategic exploitation phase of this war, a hard, difficult, prolonged exploitation phase, one that requires more hammers and bricks than it does rifles and bombs.
However, we're winning. We can't quit.
Matt's Chat
Mr. Bay is 110% correct. Quitting is not an option. We must carry on and complete the task of winning this war. Iraq has come a LONG way in a short time and while the sacrifice has been great, the sacrifice was and is worth it.This is exactly the sort of speech that I would expect to have heard from the President MANY times by now, but haven't. I don't know what he is waiting for...the President is capable of "bucking up" the homefront and needs to do just that.
The talking heads and the partisans in the media will continue to downplay our successes and that has an effect on the population. The President and those who support our fighting the War on Terror have got to stand up and be heard.
As Commander Taggert would say, "Never give up! Never surrender!"
Mark's Remarks
This soldier is right on. Andy Sullivan and Peggy can get war fatigue and take a vacation. Thank God our soldiers don't because we would all be goosestepping and speaking German if they did. It is because of these soldiers that we can have the luxury of griping about war fatigue. And, it is because of that that we cannot submit to war fatigue. We have to stay on top OF THE TRUTH IN IRAQ, THAT WE ARE WINNING. We have to stay on our media to provide fair coverage, not just death tolls, even as we are building schools and winning hearts and minds. We have to support our men and women, not call them baby killers on 4th of July rallies simply because they carry a sign we don't like. It is time to buck up, America, and this goes for you too, Andy and Peggy!
