Comments on: Gates Says U.S. Not Winning War in Iraq

By: anjin-san

anjin-san — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 05:05:52 +0000

Bit,

So you position is that James Baker & John Warner are cut & run, America hating terrorist symps?

By: charles austin

charles austin — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 04:14:25 +0000

I'm not exactly sure what I've failed to recognize. Alas, the longer the stalemate goes on the harder it is to sustain the will to continue amongst our instant gratification, thirty second attention span populace. In a war like this, if you aren't winning, you are losing.

As other have suggested, I second the motion that we should withdraw most of our troops from Iraq, via Syria and Iran. Watch the Iraqi insurgency whither on the vine once it is starved of weapons, intelligence and bodies.

By: Bitsblog » Now we have two. Well, three, really.

Bitsblog » Now we have two. Well, three, really. — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 03:52:22 +0000

[...] (BBCT: OTB [...]

By: Bithead

Bithead — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 02:51:46 +0000

What you've failed to recognize, Charles, is that the enemy has been treading water, as well. It sounds like we're playing semantic games, but we're really not, when we suggest that the way a terror war is won is by not losing.

You see, al-Qaida really doesn't have to win. And they have no chance of doing so, and never did. a terror war by definition is a war of attrition. You simply keep up with what you're doing without getting caught long enough that the other side finally gets annoyed enough to pull up stakes and go home.

Thus, it is our victory or defeat decided by those who wish to do exactly that; pull up stakes and go home, and not by our enemy

By: charles austin

charles austin — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 02:01:45 +0000

I hadn't realized that we were still trying to win since I haven't witnessed anything more than just treading water for quite some time now. But anyway, listening to the excerpts on NPR, the Senate and Dr. Gates should be embarrassed by the dog and pony show they put on today.

By: A Blog For All

A Blog For All — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 01:40:44 +0000

Confirmed...

So Robert Gates was confirmed by the US Senate Armed Services Committee unanimously (21-0). His nomination now goes to the entire Senate where he'll likely be easily confirmed....

By: Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator

Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 21:29:25 +0000

Gates: U.S. not winning the war in Iraq...

Robert Gates, the White House choice to be the next defense secretary, conceded Tuesday that the Uni...

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 21:03:10 +0000

Triumph: I'd say it's pretty obvious that we're not "winning" in the sense that, if you're playing a football game and down two TDs, you're not winning. The head coach will nonetheless convince his team that they're right in the game and have a good shot at winning. Bush is in a similar situation. Saying we're not winning is not the same as saying we're losing--let alone that we can not win--but it would be perceived as the same thing coming from him.

By: Triumph

Triumph — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 20:51:44 +0000

This would seem a blinding flash of the obvious. I guess any admission that one’s side is not 100% successful amounts to political courage in D.C. these days.

Well, it is pretty significant when the guy who hired him said that we're "absolutely winning" the war about six weeks ago. He is unequivocally contradicting the President who, according to your logic, James, must lack a "blinding flash of the obvious."