If you happen to be in Washington this afternoon, please join us at IWF to hear authors Myrna Blyth and Chriss Winston talk about their new book on how to raise a patriotic son or daughter (see our homepage for details). I want to ask them a question: Does our lack of appreciation for our country have anything to do with our seeming inability to hang in there until we win in Iraq? If you don’t think a loss in Iraq will harm us, then you need to read Tony Blankley’s column this morning:
“From all this and more, let me save you the bother of waiting for the September deluge of reports from the four corners of our government. Come September it will be the received wisdom of Washington that: (1) the Maliki government is hopelessly incapable of ever effecting the necessary political compromises to make Iraq a functioning government, (2) we cannot maintain our current troop strength in Iraq with the current size of our military, and (3) the Iraqi military will not soon be ready to replace our forces in combat or even heavy police duties.
“I don’t disagree with those conclusions of fact. But I suspect that I will strongly dissent from the policy conclusions that most of Washington will draw from them. Most of Washington will conclude that therefore we need to figure a way to weasel out of Iraq. That is fine, if losing in Iraq doesn’t matter much. But if losing in Iraq does matter a lot, then it is mad to use a diagnosis of our current shortcomings as a death sentence, rather than as a guide to better treatment methods. (Doctor: ‘You have a high fever and infection. You’re going to die.’ Patient: ‘How about giving me some penicillin?’ Doctor: ‘I don’t have any.’ Patient: ‘Could you get some?’ Doctor: ‘It would be quite a bother.’ Patient: ‘Oh, in that case you are right to let me die.’)”