Chutes and Ladders

Bennett: read Bush's words again.

Civil War will be a defeat. He says it explicitly when he says "if we do not win here."

However, the hope of success outweighs the cost of defeat. And this is where the Over-all Strategic Objective comes in.

I believe it was RWE that spoke of the strategy against the USSR, fighting them at every turn and competing at every game. Mixed in this analysis is the acceptance that sometimes you lose the battle, like we did in Vietnam. The point is to not lose the war.

Iraq is and always has been a battle in the greater Global War on (whatever). Abizaid's analysis that a United States victory would be the beginning of the end is true, which is why we had to try. In war you accept risks if the potential payoff is that large.

What you are reading here is the acceptance that we MAY NOT WIN, which is not the same as defining victory down. But it is still nothing more than a battle.

If you've ever played the game Chutes and Ladders, then you understand this strategy. September 11 was a chute that brought us almost to the bottom. As we were moving forward, a ladder to the top presented itself and we went for it. We may have missed, and the war may now take longer and have more twists and turns, but we are still in the game, and we will make it to the top.

So, if there is Civil War, the thing to do is accept defeat and move on. We still have plenty of rolls.