Commentary by H.G. Listiak

Thursday 11/13/2003

Welcome to my world. Tuesday in my Veterans Day World, I mentioned that war dictates that when you suffer troop losses, you send in re-enforcements to make the enemy suffer more losses, adding that there can be no lasting peace without victory. Of course, a couple of liberals went nuts. So, I'll bolster my argument with comments from Arizona Senator John McCain. As I have said before, although I don't agree with all of McCain's politics, the former Naval aviator and prisoner of war is one of my heroes. Last week, before the council on foreign relations, he shot down the liberal obsession that we are getting into another Vietnam, saying the Iraqi people share the same goal of building a free, prosperous and secure Iraq. He said the only way another Vietnam could happen is if we let exit strategy become more important than victory. He said that we have too few American troops in Iraq, adding that the effort to push out thousands of Iraqi soldiers and police at an ever increasing pace would backfire, especially if it's viewed as desperation to escape Iraq by the rest of the Middle East. He said we should only plan to leave after the Baathists and terrorists are vanquished and a true version of democracy is ready to stand. That, according to McCain, is the only exit strategy that matters. Anything short of it is defeat and disaster. History proves John absolutely correct. I think the Democrats running for the presidency should take a class from McCain, and I'm sure the Bush administration is listening very carefully to McCain, who has always been my pick as a wartime Secretary of Defense. He's not all that keen on domestic issues, but when it comes to war, he may be the best we have in Washington, as I see it ... I'm H.G. Listiak.