Surround and Drown
Let’s compare two things: firefighting and the war in Iraq.
We will use a large abandoned warehouse for our example. This building is part of a historic downtown area that is of great importance to the city. The fire department arrives and begins to attack the fire. The firemen are doing everything within their power to control the blaze, but despite their best efforts, the building is doing nothing but deteriorating. As the fire rages on, the heavy timbers supporting the structure are burning away. The floors and walls are beginning to show signs of collapse, which could trap the firemen inside. The chief makes the call to pull his men out. Reluctantly, the firemen back out of the warehouse.
There is no chance now of the warehouse being saved. But what happens next? The neighboring structures are now in danger as the flames blow out of every side of the warehouse. Unlike the warehouse, these adjacent buildings are occupied. The fire department has to stop the fire from spreading from one building to the next, which could destroy the entire downtown area if left unchecked, as in the great fires of San Francisco and Chicago.
Instead of getting back on their trucks and returning to the station, the firemen back up to a relatively safe distance. Large diameter hose streams are set up to contain the fire to the warehouse. As the fire consumes the warehouse, it begins to collapse on itself. Soon, the fire is out, and the town is safe.
The fire chief had three options. One: leaving the firefighters in the building regardless of the conditions would have resulted in meaningless loss of life, and the end result would be the same: all fires eventually go out. Two: it would be flat-out ridiculous for the firemen to return to the station. Three: once the condition of the building deteriorated to the point that risking their lives to save the warehouse was futile, plan B was to stop the spread of the fire to the neighboring buildings by setting up a defensive attack. By “surrounding and drowning” (a little fireman lingo there) the warehouse was lost, but the fire was contained to one structure. Using the firefighting example, it seems obvious that the only choice in this incident was the one the chief made.
Now to make my comparison to the war in Iraq. Let’s say that the surge does not work. In all fairness, we gave General Petraeus enough time to make his case, and the situation in Iraq deteriorated even further. Our greatest Americans are losing their lives to establish democracy in a country where the citizens are more concerned with settling old scores and the politicians are elbow-deep in corruption and busy taking vacations while their country is in chaos.
It is time for our chief (the federal government) to make a decision. Do we leave our troops in the fight regardless of the situation, like lemmings marching off a hill? How about we pull our troops out of the battle, bringing them home (or Okinawa as Representative John Murtha would like?) Both options are equally nonsensical, but sadly strategic redeployment (surrender) is a rather popular choice. This makes as much sense as sending the firemen back to the recliners at the station while the town burns.
Our only choice in this case would be to “surround and drown” the violence in Iraq. The chaos we would leave behind would spread from Iraq to the entire Mideast and beyond, just like the fire would devastate the downtown if left unchecked. If the situation does not improve, it will be time to pull our troops back. While still training Iraqi army and security forces, our remaining forces should shut off the flow of foreign fighters (which are about 70 percent of the insurgents in Iraq) and assume a counter-terror role in the region, denying them the opportunity to establish terrorist training camps.
In the meantime, congress needs to stay out of the way. Our Constitution almost needs a “Separation of Congress and Military” amendment nowadays. Does the city council make strategic decisions for the fire department? No, those decisions are left to the fire chief, since he deals in fighting fire, and they deal in politics. The same should be true for politicians in Washington. While many politicians are attempting to control the battle from their desks, I do not see troops in Iraq writing any legislation. Congress needs to stop giving mere lip service to the troops and support them with the funds they sorely need. Let the troop surge take effect. Once the results are in, then it will be time to make our decision.
In: Military, Politics · Tagged with: Congress, firefighting, General Petraeus, Iraq, John Murtha
