Rusted Sky

Jerry:

Since the terrorists are already leaving Baghdad just on the simple threat of more American troops there'll inevitably be some bleeding heart showing up on CNN to complain that we're violating the spirit of the fourth Amendment by forcing the poor 'insurgents' to move out of their ancestral tribal areas without without due legal process or adequate compensation.

Next thing you know somebody will be calling for the Collation forces to obtain a warrant from the International Criminal Court before troops can enter private property in Baghdad to search for terrorists or weapons.

The emergence of a free democratic state in Iraq will sound the death knell for both radical Islamic fundamentalism and the Democratic party of the United States. Both have adopted trying to delay or halt that process as part of their core philosophy.

otpu

The problem for the insurgents is that they are running out of good places to run *to*... almost sounds like a strategy or something...

One of the fun bits I had was re-casting a part of the ITM post into two different lights. I am not so hot as a fiction writer, but I think the point gets across, just the same.

And why, indeed, does not al Qaeda run to Anbar? Running out of friends and places to hide, mayhaps? Same for Moqty, who has to go to the last butcher around to seem only horrible in comparison. Yes, strategy does appear to be happening... slow... steady... a 'surge' is a tactic, the strategy remains.

New Stuff:

Glenn 'Instapundit' Reynolds points to this online article by Hugh Hewett.

More on the Surge

Posted by Dean Barnett | 11:57 AM

What if it works?

I was really attracted by his secondary title; "What if it Works?"

Evidently Mr. Hewett believes the surge has a good chance of working, Money quote:

SO WHAT FOLLOWS IS EDUCATED SPECULATION: I predict the surge will be a success, at least as far as Baghdad is concerned. The insurgents and other Iraqi loons haven’t yet distinguished themselves by their intellects, but they have been smart enough to avoid fighting American troops in open engagements when we’ve been serious about doing them harm.

The surge will likely occasion a melting into the background for the insurgency, the militias and anyone else in the American crosshairs. This means that the battle for Baghdad will likely be less bloody than many are anticipating. In this war, shows of American resolve (rare though they have been) have almost always been greeted by surrender, and if not surrender, overwhelming victory. Baghdad will likely follow the same pattern.

Unfortunately Hewett also sees a continuation of the tactics used by Bush administration opponents and the Media to trumpet military failures and ignore military and economic successes:

Peace breaking out in Baghdad will be for the media the proverbial dog that doesn’t bark. If it bleeds, it leads, and if there’s less bleeding in Baghdad, that means there will be less news coverage. The administration will have to work overtime to get word of any successes to the American people.

It looks to me like the troops are ready, willing, and able to do their part against the enemy who are trying to destroy Americans over there. The troops we have in Iraq can win the war there without much trouble if they are allowed to do what is necessary to win. The terrorists are not capable of defeating us if our troops and commanders are allowed to focus on winning without being hobbled by Rules of Engagement that are written to maximize political correctness and not for military effectiveness.

Winning the war at home is going to come down to whether George W. Bush is ready to do his part to carry the fight to the enemies at home who are also trying to destroy America. Like the enemy facing our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, I believe that the enemy here cannot defeat us if our President is ready, willing, and able to go all out and do what is necessary to win the war over here.

To do that Bush is going have to do something he hates, stand in front of a camera and talk plainly to the American people about what he's done and what he plans to do. Bush is going to have to take the information war directly to his biggest enemy, the Media. He's going to have to use the 'bully pulpit' of the Presidency to tell the American people all the things the Mainstream Media would rather he remain quiet about. Bush is going to have start giving his bosses, the American People, regular status reports about what went wrong and why, and even more important, what went right and why.

In short, GWB is going to have to start doing what FDR did with such great success and against a similiar enemy during the 30's and 40's. When Roosevelt was elected President in 1932 his attempts to do something about the Depression were opposed by the people who controlled the big newspaper conglomerates and Radio networks of the time. The opposition to his policies by the, primarily Republican, newspaper and broadcast radio owners took the same form we are familiar with today. Any shortfall from complete success for any of Roosevelt's New Deal projects was immediately touted as a complete failure in front page headlines, any successes, if reported at all, were usually regulated to the back page of the obituary section. For someone familiar with today's issues the actions of the large newspapers of the time seems surreally distorted with the same tactics being used for completely opposite reasons.

By 1938, a coalition of Republicans and conservative Democrats began to press their opposition to New Deal cultural policies. Late in July, 1938, Representative J. Parnell Thomas of the House Committee to Investigate Un-American Activities (HUAC, also known in the '30s as the "Dies Committee," after its chair Martin Dies) claimed that he had "startling evidence" that the Theatre and Writers Projects were "a hotbed of Communists" and "one more link in the vast and unparalleled New Deal propaganda network." He announced that an investigation would be launched.

In its first six weeks of investigations, centering on Boston, New York City and San Francisco, the Dies Committee commanded some 500 column inches in The New York Times (as well as extensive coverage in other media) with no chance for rebuttal from either project.

http://www.wwcd.org/policy/US/newdeal.html

To combat this Roosevelt began giving weekly radio briefings about how the job he was elected to do was being handled. Roosevelt called them 'Fire Side Chats" and they quickly became some of the most popular radio programs of the day.

What Bush will call address to the American People I don't know but he needs to start now and keep it up for the next two years of his Presidency.

If Bush takes the lead in telling the people what's really happening in Iraq and Iran and the rest of the world in the War of Terror the people would listen. And the talking heads of the Media would be forced to deal with the War on Terror as it really is and not as they would like us to see it.

Otpu

Addendum:

Bush has given a weekly radio address every Saturday throughout his Presidency. I'm a little ashamed to say that I've never listened to it and I don't know of anyone who has listened to it on a regular basis.

Radio was the new direct access news medium of the 30's and 40's and Roosevelt used it to great effect. The equivalent news medium for the 21st century is televison. The internet is catching up but for most people TV news is the only news.

Bush cannot hide behind a microphone any more, he is going to have to face the camera to get anybody to listen to what he has to say.

In the past whenever Bush got on camera to talk to the American people his popularity ratings always went up. And after the speech, as sure as night follows day, there always came a couple of weeks of turd picking the sound bites for commentary by the Lame Stream Media and the progressives. Unfortunately, Bush never responded directly to his critics no matter how egregously foul their comments and as a result his popularity always began to wane again.

Talk to Us Mr. Bush, Talk to us a about everything. Tell us how good you're doing, tell us how bad the other guy is doing. We want to hear what you have to say.

Otpu

He's been trying, John, but the MSM's not interested.

Hell, look at the pap they're obsessing about now. Gee, American Idol's about to start up again!

J.

AJacksonian -

Corner them, then kill them. Sounds like a plan to me! At least Maliki seems to be on board this time...

J.