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Well here is the odd truth, which for some reason, absolutely no one seems to realize. Precisely because Iraq is such a mess, the terrorists now believe it is all but inevitable that they will win. They can smell victory. They can taste it. They are ramping up the equivalent of their air craft carrier landings under the banner “Jihad Accomplished.”
But for the first time, since World War II, for some insane reason, the previous paradigm is reversed. In every other conflict of this type one always hears the sentence “All the Viet Cong have to do, or Hezb’allah has to do, or all the Resistance has to do in order to win is simply survive.” Thus by having outlasted the lumbering oaf, the West will be defeated. Well, guess what, in Iraq of 2006 precisely because they so smell victory, for the first time since World War II, all America has to do in order to win, is not lose.
Let me say it again, in Iraq, all America has to do in order to win is not lose.
All America has to do in order to defeat Al-Qaeda and the Iranian backed terrorists is not lose to them.
And all we have to do in order to not lose to them is not to leave before the Iraqis can bring the violence to a manageable level.
They don’t have to end the violence.
They just have to be able to bring it to a manageable level, a level in which they can maintain an elected government and manage their affairs with a minimum of help or indeed presence of US forces.
All we have to do to win is not leave until then.
Why do I believe that this is so? Because it is precisely what the terrorists are telling us. This is their Tet offensive. This is their attempt to influence our elections. If they can help elect a Congress that will cut off funds for the war, then just as was the case in Vietnam, that is precisely what will happen. And when it happens we will leave. In defeat.
All we have to do to win is not lose.
All we have to do to not lose, is not leave until the Iraqis can manage the violence.
Not defeat it.
Not eliminate it.
Just manage it.
If we stay till then it is the Islamo terrorists who will be gasping for breath.
It will be Midway instead of Pearl Harbor.
Dan Gordon is the writer of such films as The Hurricane, Murder in the First, Wyatt Earp, and The Assignment. He served as a captain in the reserves in the IDF during the recent war.


Dan Gordon