Response to Cedarford's Pentagon Complaint

Cedarford,

I think you are right in calling out the Pentagon, in a way, but Iraqi problems are too heavy to hang around just our necks.

We telegraphed the Iraq war for an entire year. Saddam was, and Al'Qaeda and the Baathists are, a thinking enemy, and they are working against us actively and dynamically. Not that I am saying your opinion is superficial, but something else you must take into account is the fact that the terrorist attacks are targetted specifically to bring about the reactions we see in the media everyday. They are a performance for the American media consumer, and the coverage skews their real effect.

I believe an unintended consequence of the Al'Qaeda and Baathist atrocities will be the creation of an Iraqi national narrative: the immense heat of the fire will forge a more solid foundation than we ever could have done ourselves. Put another way, our mistakes and Al'Qaeda's depravity may give us a victory that otherwise would have been forever out of our reach.

That is a best case scenario, but it is possible. I am confident in Iraq's future. It is the rest of the war that I am concerned about.