I travel widely and it seems the opinion of the Australians and Europeans is that the United States cannot finish a military action. Our military is obviously the strongest in world but the policymakers do not have the stamina to finish the job. I’ve heard it said that we should have given the rebuilding job to the British on the grounds that they stuck in and fought to a workable solution during the Malay conflict. American history since World War II has confirmed the fact that in order to defeat the U.S. military all one has to do is hang on and continue to fight, because America will run from a protracted conflict. I suggest that this history is a threat to our national security as sure as Aldrich Ames.

I believe that the Iraq War was ill-advised and poorly executed, but I doubt that the difficulties of regime creation could have possibly been foreseen. I, like most Americans, would like to roll back the clock and do many things differently.

I think we all need to consider the fact that abandoning the situation now is to abandon all those who have fallen, American and Iraqi, et al, and condemn them to having died in vain. President Bush has lost the respect of the world; I hope our policymakers don’t let it be so with the rest of us. I would suggest a public relations campaign to win the hearts and minds back for this difficult task and let Gen. Petraeus do the job.

As the Seabee slogan says,”The difficult we do immediately, the impossible takes a little longer.” This should also be the slogan for our policymakers. The “Greatest Generation” did it in World War II. Are we incapable? JOHN WEBB Canby

I stopped reading at “but I doubt that the difficulties of regime creation could have possibly been foreseen.”  I took a deep breath, mumbled under my breath “Sure.  Pixie Dust for ‘Regime Creation'”, then flipped a coin as to whether to continue reading.

Slog through the argument about “not letting them die in vain”, which is not an argument because it doesn’t ask whether those dying to not let those die in vain are dying in vain or not.  I find myself to a simple question.

Why must it be that we must believe that America is capable of anything and everything?  That just seems implausible for me to believe — the strongest man on Earth being told to — finish the metaphor for me by naming a very heavy thing that he might not be able to pick up.  More pointedly, if it is capable of anything and everything, why is the road to accomplishing that assured as whatever course has been defined and being followed?  The strongest man on Earth being told to use his brute strength to thread a needle.
Does that make sense?

“Giving the rebuilding job to the British” may be precipitated less by our “inability to finish the job” than how we go about the job in the first place — which is a load of private contractor bonanzas, and not any real consideration of:

From “Instructions for American Servicemen in Iraq During World War II,” a pocket guide published in 1943 by the United States Army:

That tall man in the flowing robe you are going to see soon, with the whiskers and the long hair, is a first-class fighting man, highly skilled in guerrilla warfare. Few fighters in any country, in fact, excel him in that kind of situation. If he is your friend, he can be a staunch and valuable ally. If he should happen to be your enemy — look out! Remember Lawrence of Arabia? Well, it was with men like these that he wrote history in the First World War. Yet you will also find out quickly that the Iraqi is one of the most cheerful and friendly people in the world. If you are willing to go just a little out of your way to understand him, everything will be okay.

— Harper’s magazine

Funny, it appeared in the Oregonian a week prior to this letter — in that somewhat obscure corner of the “Living” section, the “wacky” Edge column.  And it’s probably more insightful than whatever David Broder column is appearing in the Opinion page this morning.

Actually, this is one of the better letters to the Oregonian, based on the fact that it doesn’t appear to come straight from a form letter.

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