The Meaning of the "Tipping Point" in Iraq

Only the comatose could not know about the seizure, torture, mutilations and deaths of the two American soldiers recently in the Sunni Triangle of Iraq. Every effort made by our military to gather intelligence from the indigenous population of the seizure area has been met by stony silence. Conversely, most Americans--not the pansy Left--want blood and action to avenge our soldiers, while the vicious bad guys watch to see if we are going to stand up for ourselves. So far, the Bush administration, including the DoD, have done nothing and said only the equivalent of "Tsk, tsk, what a shame."

What Al-Qaeda did to our soldiers brought the entire Bush expedition in Iraq to its MOST CRITICAL POINT.

What we do at this point, or opportunity, will determine our ENTIRE FUTURE in Iraq and the Middle East. Call this point what you will, but the name "tipping point" names it superbly.

More of the usual from Bush et al, a la "just war theory," and we may as well come home now. We will have lost and guaranteed fighting Islam and its jihad on the streets of America. (And, no, Bill O'Reilly, this is not "theoretical.")

We will be perceived--correctly--as a toothless, senescent, and weak tiger, easily defeated, just by persistence. This type of response will guarantee that we will bleed much more money and squander many more troops through maiming and death to no good end. Once again, we will have committed national suicide on the altar of righteous, self-sacrificial service to others. While such sacrifice makes far too many Americans glow in inner warmth, it handcuffs our fighting and national security because it keeps us from pursuing our own highly appropriate and proper national self-interest. We might as well throw our personnel and money into Uday's infamous people shredder.

If we punish the holy hell out of these Sunnis, we will be able to pull off a win--despite Bush, DoD, State Department, and all of the "just war theory" stuffed generals. We should have already begun meting out severe and unremitting punishment to take away their will to fight and support the fighting.

Iraq has come down to this tipping point. It has come down to one final roll of the dice, thanks to all the bungling since March 2003. Iran and North Korea are watching, as is the rest of Islamia.

If we are to fight, we must fight to win decisively and quickly through total war. That is what a truly "just war" means.

Iraq rides now fully on the near term behavior of G. W. Bush and his ilk.