As the war in Iraq grinds on, multiple lessons can be gleaned from it. And not all the lessons have anything to do with the tactical details of this particular war.
One of the most striking things about this conflict is that when I see talking heads on the teevee talking about it, whether they support or oppose the war, whether they are conservative or liberal, they always manage to get in something about how they of course support “our brave men and women” in uniform. And there, with those two words — “and women” — we have a showcase example of how our domestic kennel-fed conservative leaders do not have any earthly idea of what kind of cultural conflict we are in. Apparently victory in Iraq is important enough that we should purchase it through fundamental defeats here at home.
When young girls are killed or maimed in combat, where are the leading conservative spokesmen who take the opportunity to raise the point and press it? Why does no one point out that the abomination is, you know, abominable? Of course, they don’t do it then out of consideration for the grieving families. And they don’t do it later because there is no reason to when the heat is off. For all the saber-rattling conservatives can do when it comes to fighting backward nations with high-tech weaponry, when it comes to an issue that might require actual courage from them, they are to use a military term, AWOL.