Blacks for Bush

  Realistic Goals for Iraq

The constant drumbeat of failure from the left will never stop because they don't have a realistic view of what can be accomplished. They are expecting this ravaged disfunctional country to turn into Mayberry, or the O.C. when they should be hoping to get a Compton, Washington D.C. or a Detroit. Measured against these standards there is no chance of success. The Neo-cons have done an awful job of setting expectations. The article I linked to above is a very realistic look at what we can accomplish. And what would be an reasonable success metric.

Nor will the killing end with January's elections. "If your goal is the cessation of violence, the situation is hopeless," said George Friedman, chairman of Strategic Forecasting, or Stratfor, a private intelligence firm. "But that's not a reasonable goal for a country like Iraq." What can be achieved, Friedman argued, is containing the violence and enabling a functioning, legitimate government to emerge, as has taken place in such terrorist-plagued places as Spain's Basque country or Northern Ireland. Like -- ironically -- the Israelis, Iraqis may not see an end to car bombs and suicide bombs in this generation. But the coming months may buy them peace enough to breathe, and to vote.