Legislating Defeat

Phillip Mella talks about a Colorado legislative debate on the Iraq surge. Yes you read that correctly, Colorado state legislature is going to debate the surge, as if they have any impact on federal policy. Contrary to popular belief, violence and war do solve problems, the solution may not be for the problem we sought to solve, but it does solve problems. Mella also notes that war should not always be a last resort.

Whether we examine battles such as Somme or Marne in WWI, or Iwo Jima or Okinawa in WWII, war is an agonizing and horrific thing, however, there is something far worse, and that is the failure to confront evil before it has a stranglehold.

Otherwise sensible people are guilty of a grave polemical fallacy when they argue that 'war should always be a last resort,' because the timely intervention against evil truly saves lives. To wit, a concerted effort against Hitler in 1938 might haves upwards of 40 million souls.

Bringing this full circle, our problems in Iraq are real and the loss of every life is lamentable, however we've toppled a mass murdering dictator and a fledgling democratic government is struggling to find its bearings in a region of the world that is categorically inhospitable to government 'by and for the people.' We can legislate a date certain for leaving that nation, as is the Democrats' plan, or we can see this final effort through to the end.