Two years ago today – 10 January 2007 – your humble correspondent made his RedState debut with a lengthy essay entitled “Is Iraq This War’s Guadalcanal? (The Consequences of Victory).”
I’m pointing this out – and putting this on the front page – not out of ego.
I’m doing this because it’s a reminder of how far we’ve come, and what a great victory has been achieved.
I won’t quote the piece itself; it’s Saturday, and everyone is free to link back to the archive and read it.
I’ll just note how obvious it all seems now, two years on – while two years ago, such a clarion call seemed absurd and out of place.
The basic notion then was that it was all over, we had lost, and it was merely a question of how best to manage defeat – and how to minimize the consequences.
For some of us, that was just unacceptable. As had the Japanese in 1942 – 1943 with Guadalcanal, the enemy had clearly over-committed to something that offered them little gain but the potential for great catastrophe. All we had to do was seize the chance, focus on winning, and develop a strategy for doing just that – achieving victory.
Well, it has been done.
So make a second coffee, relax, read the whole archival piece – and rejoice.
Daniel Horowitz
Neil Stevens
Moe Lane
Steve Maley
Jake Walker
God bless you Skanderbeg. Never have so many
Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Saturday, January 10th at 9:09AM EST (link)been liberated; so much security been acheived; at so low a cost is history. This is one of Amrica’s finest hours.
Mike DeVine’s Examiner.com, Charlotte Observer and The Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson
'beg, I was confident all along. Call me a neo-con
Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Saturday, January 10th at 9:13AM EST (link)if you must, but I always had confidence in the Iraqi people. But the main reason I had confidence that we would win, so long as we stayed the course (and I trusted Bush on that all along) is best encapsulated in a story early on in which I saw an Iraqi family praising an American soldier aged 21 of a single mother and how they were amazed at how he was sacrificing so much for them.
I knew then that we would win.
more later
Mike DeVine’s Examiner.com, Charlotte Observer and The Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson
The Sound of Victory
Skanderbeg (Diary) Saturday, January 10th at 9:35AM EST (link)Thanks, GC.
Our enemies are blabbermouths who are now reduced to railing from caves against “their own” for failing to rally to their “cause.”
Meanwhile, the domestic constituency that was openly seeking defeat has gone silent on the subject.
That sound like victory to me….
Wow
Thrhheggeegwc Jjtkylkfofud (Diary) Saturday, January 10th at 9:36AM EST (link)That was an amazing diary. I am just speechless.
Hold yer horses, sport
grizz Saturday, January 10th at 9:50AM EST (link)Anyone who’d declare ‘we won’ in any Middle East conflict need only wait a while before it starts all over again, and most times with the same players. I suggest that our ‘win’ is but a temporary lull in the fighting that will once again break out.
Rome fell after 500 years - yes, all things are temporary - nt
Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary) Saturday, January 10th at 9:52AM EST (link)Mike DeVine’s Examiner.com, Charlotte Observer and The Minority Report columns
“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson
You're really going to hate the next four years.
NightTwister (Diary) Saturday, January 10th at 11:02AM EST (link)Especially now that your messiah has said he won’t turn tail and run on Jan 20th.
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. – Winston Churchill
Nah, He Gonna Hate It Because...
IJB Saturday, January 10th at 11:16AM EST (link)…His guy is going to get blamed for everything that goes wrong now.
And rightly so!
(Though people on our side shouldn’t forget that it’s people like Grizz who are really to blame…)
I do believe that I noted that if the Iraqi people....
JadedByPolitics (Diary) Saturday, January 10th at 10:15AM EST (link)had a moment to BREATHE they would want freedom and in such the surge was necessary and would work AND I will toot my own horn and say I was right The Messiah was wrong Reid was wrong and too many others to count were WRONG!
Mr Devine you can call me a NeoCon as well I wear that title with pride
Unified Patriots – How-To:
Activists Taking Action
There's some real interesting comments and perspectives
Achance (Diary) Saturday, January 10th at 10:42AM EST (link)following that original piece, and a lot of names we don’t see any more.
In Vino Veritas
Congratulation
GordonTaylor (Diary) Saturday, January 10th at 10:50AM EST (link)on you anniversary here at Red State. You are a valuable part of this community.
Thanks to Everyone
Skanderbeg (Diary) Saturday, January 10th at 5:53PM EST (link)Well, I tossed that up first thing this morning, then went off skiing for the day.
Thanks for all the kind words – and I’m honored that it even seemed to attract a troll.
It’s been a great ride, and I hope it continues.
In terms of reason, I’m writing things up to try to offer a neglected perspective (both historical AND from being all over the globe on a regular basis). I want people to read this stuff, AND I want the stuff to make a difference.
The basic tenor of that piece two years ago was not only that we could win. In the end, it wasn’t going to be enough for the enemy to know he was beaten; the victory had to be so overwhelmingly obvious that the enemy couldn’t possibly claim anything different.