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Flame » in reply to re: Who knows?

Uphill battle
Tom Brosz — (archived)

I will readily concede that we are fighting an uphill battle in the "hearts and minds" department. The flow of lies from our enemies is constant. You wouldn't believe some of the things that come out of even supposedly moderate places like Egypt. And certainly there are many eager to believe the worst of America and Israel.

What needs to be remembered is that most Iraqis are at least neutral at this point. As I pointed out to Mary Anne, while there is anger at our military actions, there is also a large reservoir of anger at the Baathists and others that we are fighting, too. A lot of people died before we got there. It is not true that the insurgency has wide popular support, especially outside the Sunni enclaves.

What do Iraqis want? Typically, they want the insurgency destroyed, and the Americans to hit the road. In that order, and as soon as possible. Coincidentally, this is our goal as well.

In Iraq we are fighting a slow, precise war. We are attempting to bring Iraqi forces into it as soon as possible and I will also concede that this has been a slower process than desired. It is paying off, though. As one example, we now have enough Iraqis to pry insurgents out of the mosques where they hide, which the insurgency is finding disconcerting.

The bit on Israel is interesting. Believe it or not, Israel's current tactics, involving pinpoint strikes on terrorist leaders, combined with building a barrier and withdrawing from Palestinian territories, look like they have promise. Still a tough road, though. For one thing, the withdrawal is meeting a lot of resistance from inside Israel.

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