Excellent points!

Schencka,

Let’s declare victory and leave.

I used to agree [1]. I no longer do. [2]

It’s not a “small” war for those who’ve lost their limbs, minds, or family members.

“Small wars” is a term of art referring to conflicts in which the focus is less on kinetics and more on social networking. More information about this form of conflict, and its jargon, can be found at Small Wars Journal [3].

It’s not “spoiling our enemies” unleashing chaos in Iraqi society, and we haven’t “spoiled” anyone who lost a child due to collateral damage.

By “to spoil,” I mean “to frustrate the objecties of.” So, in Korea (1950s) we overtly spoiled the Communists (preventing them from achieving their objective of unifying the pennensula), in Afghanistan (1980s) we spoiled the Communists (preventing them from achieving their objective of pacifying the countryside), etc.

[1] http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2006/08/11/leave-iraq-now.html
[2] http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2008/03/28/the-coin-cycle.html
[3] http://smallwarsjournal.com/

“If fifty years ago, you told someone that our troops went into a country, took the place over in a few weeks, and now run the place, they would have responded, ‘wow, you guys won a really big victory!’”

Let’s declare victory and leave.

This is bad:

“However, the importance of managing Iraq’s government and security for some time was a wise one. We appear to be heading to a type of victory that is familiar to us in these small wars: spoiling our enemies while setting up a government that can keep the peace, cooperative with us militarily, and push the question of liberalization off to the future.”

It’s not a “small” war for those who’ve lost their limbs, minds, or family members.

It’s not “spoiling our enemies” unleashing chaos in Iraqi society, and we haven’t “spoiled” anyone who lost a child due to collateral damage.

Its important to realize that the word “caucasian” also includes Arabs, North Africans, and Indians. So knowing this, the question is what’s the difference between an American caucasian and a middle East caucasian?

While this statement is a little over the top, maybe some thought should go into whether a certain “cut-off line” exists regarding the country’s average IQ and its ability to have a functional society?

There does seem to be a correlation between IQ and national prosperity{1}.

{1} http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ_and_the_Wealth_of_Nations

Al Qaeda’s a vanguard organization, composed of knowledgeable and intelligent men capable of long-term planning, imaginative thinking, and resilience.

That may be the problem.

Perhaps the safest system is an intelligent public and an unimaginative political class?

If so, we’re pretty safe.

Jay,

Excellent point!

Certainly inbreeding doesn’t help [2].

[1] http://baconeatingatheistjew.blogspot.com/2006/02/middle-east-literacy-and-iq-rates.html
[2] http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2007/11/19/mapping-the-gap.html

“2) It’s impossible to bring peaceful Democracy to religious fanatics with lower genetic intelligence than the average caucasian American. ”

I wasn’t aware that the Baathist regime had conducted much in the way of standardized IQ testing in it’s time.