War Without End

Much shifted this week. An article in the Sunday Times that, while we worried about Sadr's hold-outs in Najaf during August, Falluja and Ramadi (and much of the western Iraqi Province Anbar) were ceded by the US military to the Islamic militants. Sadr eventually gave-up Najaf to Sistani -- but it's still one more city that is not under the control of Allawi. This mind-blowing loss of political control has been lost in the din of the RNC in NY this week. The administration has not acknowledged it, nor announced any plan to deal with it.

Krugman gives it a name. We're losing Iraq. Allawai has no control in the country-side.

And then, David Brooks wrote this morning that this election is now about Courage: who has the guts to go after radical Islam worldwide. And the Republicans can win it with the simple statement that they have made over and over. We must wage aggressive war against worldwide radical Islam: Attack. Attack. Attack.

The optimist in me says Kerry will win this election. The pessimist in me says, if he does not, we will open up a generation of aggressive, American-led worldwide war against weak regimes, like Iraq, which are not promoting American interests. It's the neo-con utopia: Pax Americana.