It’s Always Darkest Before the Dawn

Or so they say, at Optimist International meetings, parts of the West Wing, lunches with the Weekly Standard editorial board, and other gatherings of crackpots. Lawrence Auster puts matters in Iraq into perspective by contrasting what a truly successful strategy looks like:

It is three years and four months since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and we are in a monstrous mess. Sectarian murder is increasing and shows no sign of ending. Thousands of people are emigrating to get away from the disaster and save their lives. The middle class and professional people are emptying out of the country. Christians have fled to Syria which is more safe for them than U.S. occupied Iraq. Iran dominates southern Iraq. The hope of a viable unified democratic government is in shambles. The country is being “run” by sectarian militias, not by any government.

Three years and four months after the U.S. entered World War II, Hitler was dead, the surrender of Nazi Germany was imminent, the Japanese mainland was surrounded, and Japanese surrender was four months off.

Staying the losing course is a losing strategy. We need a radical change, or we need to pull out in short order.