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SWJED
11-23-2005, 08:30 AM
23 Nov. Washington Times Op-Ed - Iraq, Thanksgiving 2005 (http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20051122-091752-2987r.htm).


... For those of us who are convinced that the Iraq war must be fought until a successful outcome is obtained, the next three to six months are a critical period to rebuild public support. The task is substantial, but not overwhelming...

We face three challenges. First, the president's current unpopularity is distorting support for the war downward (just as his prior popularity distorted it upwards).

Second, the news from the front is so murky that virtually no one (including members of Congress and the Washington media, as well as the public) can have any fact-based confidence that they know whether things are going well or poorly in Iraq. Those of us in Washington can find Pentagon sources and "experts" to match our desired results — but objectivity is seemingly impossible to come by. We can't follow in the news the trail of battles won or lost — as we could during World War II following Gen. MacArthur's Pacific islands advance or Ike's progress through France and the Low Countries in 1944.

Third, there is little attention being paid to the consequences of failure...