Two Views of a Surge

Wall Street Journal article

Victor Davis Hanson in National Review Online

We seem to have heard a lot of “go” word” options recently: Go long, go deep, go wide, go home, and now, it seems, go smart. I seem to pick up a common thread of letting the fight against the terrorists be more aggressive, and to communicate success better. Now I admit to never having been in the military, but I can understand if those who are serving in Iraq are frustrated by rules of engagement that limit their actions.

One thing that has been very frustrating to me is the fact that the Administration does not do a very good job communicating successes. “What? There are successes?” a lot of people ask. Yes, it’s just that the news is buried in Department of Defense web pages or web logs devoted to the cause. Big, fat, hairy deal. The President needs to get out in front of that microphone and talk directly to the American people about how major milestones are being met, how we are helping the people in Iraq, and how we are wiping out terrorists.

Somewhere along the line the Administration will have to deal with Iran. Getting rid of the mad mullahs will go a long way to reducing the violence in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. As I see it, they can let the Israelis do damage to Iran’s nuclear facilities, we can do some ourselves, and most of all, we need to support the domestic opposition there. We learned in the 1980s that keeping enough pressure on the Sandinistas forced them to have an open and honest election, which the opposition won with 70% of the vote. That’s a good lesson for today!

Screw the French and Russians if they don’t agree!