How to win a war, in three easy steps. (Originally posted Apr. 10)

The administration of President Bush, or at least the Department of Defense, seems to have a myopia common to militarists - believing that achieving each objective in succession (secure a road, capture a city, kill an opposing general, etc.) will lead to the accomplisment of the ultimate goal. Now, the goal of President Bush in Iraq was, in fact, accomplished a year ago, when Saddam Hussein was removed from power. As far as the president was concerned, it was "Mission Accomplished." What as to follow was of no concern to the president. He likely remains confused to this day as to what the fuss is all about. Not sufficient, however, for the miltarists in the DOD. Their ultimate goal has always been the establishment of a unified Iraq with a government friendly to American interests (note to self: do NOT use the term puppet here). Unfortunately (for them, at any rate), this goal has never been attainable. No matter how many cities are captured, no matter how many resisters are captured or killed, no matter how many slogans are utered (what, by the way, is the flavor this month: Shock&Awe; Hearts&Minds; Peace&Freedom?), no matter how many Operation Something-or-Another-Swords are mounted, there will never be a government friendly to the United States in Baghdad. Anyone establishing such a government is not likely to survive much past the withdrawal of the U.S. occupying forces. Knowing that, it's pretty easy to guess that the 'coalition' will be asked to vacate post-haste on or about July first, by whatever group recieves the note saying "you are now the Official Sovreigns of Iraq".
Napoleon, a much better general, and better imperialist, than Don Rumsfeld, won victory after victory, even reaching his objective of capturing Moscow. Where he spent the winter. His army froze and starved to death there, completely crushing his hopes of defeating Russia. His only reward was the phrase 'Moscow Winter'. Hitler failed to learn from his fellow would-be conqueror, and suffered the same fate, failing even to get past the suburbs of Moscow (which had grown considerably in the intervening 150 years).
In January of last year, before the attack on Iraq, I was visiting in the bay area. I took the opportunity to go into San Fransisco to join a peace march. Much to my delight, I found myself for a time marching under a banner reading "Berkeley Students Against the War". I mentioned to one of the bearers that I had marched under that same banner 33 years earlier, as a Berkeley student myself at the time. I was quite pleased that my fellow students, one generation removed, remembered the lesson of Vietnam, but saddened that the President, who should have learned the first time through, failed to learn the lesson of history, thus forcing us all to relive it.
It was amusing to read comments in the news in the following days accusing me of naivete for believing I could prevent the war. Not so! I insist. Actually, I was only marching so as to establish my credentials to say, today, "I Told You So".