A Grim Milestone

While Obama dithers, our soldiers are dying.

Obama Has Not Time For His Afghan War Commander

But he has all the time in the world to lobby for Chicago.

Obama will lead a delegation that includes first lady Michelle Obama, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Oprah Winfrey and others.
The International Olympic Committee on Friday will choose the site of the 2016 Summer Games. Also in contention are Rio De Janeiro, Brazil; Tokyo; and Madrid, Spain.

The president’s apparent last-minute decision to make the trip drew immediate criticism, including from some Republicans in Congress who accused him of getting distracted from health care, the economy, Iran and Afghanistan.

If only the Afghan War were so important.

Old School: No Substitute For Victory

Hope and Change School: Victory is "not necessarily the goal."

MacArthur must be spinning in his grave.

Iraq, We're Winning

But, we could still snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

A former case officer for the CIA compares Islamist reaction to the Iraq War and the Soviet's Afghanistan War and notes that we have every reason to expect a far more favorable outcome in Iraq.

Sunni extremism is now in retreat. More important, the gruesome anti-Shiite tactics of extremist groups, combined with the much-quoted statements made by former Sunni insurgents about the positive actions of the United States in Iraq, have caused a great deal of intellectual turbulence in the Arab world.

It's way too soon to call Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda spiritual outcasts among Arab Muslims, but they have in fact sustained enormous damage throughout the region because of Iraq. The lack of holy-warrior manpower coming from the Muslim Brotherhood is surely, in part, a reflection of this discomfort with al-Qaeda's violence, the complexity of Iraqi politics and America's not entirely negative role inside the country. If bin Ladenism is now on the decline -- and it may well be among Arabs -- then Iraq has played an essential part in battering the movement's spiritual appeal.

Iraq could still fall apart (and if an American president starts withdrawing troops haphazardly, it probably will). The country's descent into chaos and renewed sectarian strife would likely reenergize Islamic extremism. But it is certainly not too soon to suggest that Iraq could well become America's decisive victory over Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and all those Muslims who believe that God has sanctified violence against the United States.

It's all turning out as I predicted a year ago(here, here and here). To defeat Islamic extremism, we need to change the course of history and not just get even after we are attacked.