Pussy Footing When We Should Be Ass Kicking
Mackubin Thomas Owens at NRO, warns of the dangers of not acting decisively in Fallujah:
If the Americans do not handle Fallujah, the impact will extend beyond the Sunni Triangle. It will send a message to the Shia that Sunni intransigence is being rewarded, and will strengthen the position of the troublemaker Moqtada al-Sadr, who may conclude that he and his Mahdi army have nothing to fear from the American "paper tigers."
The war in Iraq is not yet won. It may still be lost, and, indeed, will be if Fallujah is not purged of insurgents. I hope I'm wrong, but this may be the decisive moment in our Iraq enterprise. During the Punic Wars between Carthage and the Roman Republic, Cato the Elder used to end his orations in the Senate with "delenda est Carthago" (Carthage must be destroyed). It may seem hard-hearted, but the same sentiment applies to Fallujah.
How many times must we go down this same road before we learn the lesson that our enemies respect (and fear) our power, not our kindness? Sometimes it's not about winning hearts and minds, but about delivering a firm kick in the nuts.
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