Bill Whittle

Sheesh -- go away for a couple of days and one of the mainstays of blogging unleashes another two-part post. Stop what you are doing right now and go read this: Bill Whittle: Strength (Part 1) and Bill Whittle: Strength (Part2) A very short taste: bq. Al Sadr, you less than magnificent bastard! We read your book! bq. Blah, blah... war is lost... blah blah blah... disaster, wreck and ruin... Only it turns out that the United States military may have produced a few life-long professionals who actually hold victory more precious than crowing loud. Many of us value reason over emotion, and reality over wishful thinking. Well, we did not level Fallujah, and we did not do it because those bodies on that bridge were bait, pure and simple. We didn’t take the bait. Or, I should say, our military didn’t take the bait; I took it, hook line and sinker. I wanted to level the goddam city and then walk away and let them kill each other. Now, as Al Sadr’s support evaporates; as his militia thugs are being hunted and killed by shadowy Iraqi ghost armies and extremely corporeal Marines; as his fellow Mullahs condemn him; as Iraqi demonstrations against him and all that poison and ruin he represents continue to rise; as his headquarters are destroyed, his most vicious ‘soldiers’ killed in their own backyards, playing defense in an urban environment by Marines whose skill and tactics stagger credulity for their expertise and success – now, we must ask ourselves: did you want to feel good or did you want to win? bq. I want to win. I was an idiot for taking that bait. And I thank God daily that America makes better, smarter people than me. Read the whole thing...