A Toast to Old Media’s — and Old Medea’s — Defeat in Iraq
It should be noted that no one predicted the Iraq War would draw in thousands of jihadists from all over the world. General Patraeus should be recognized for a triumph that left Al Qaeda gutted. The cause of liberty was advanced and the world made safer despite the best efforts by radical leftists to subvert the effort. We can only hope that pragmatists in the Obama administration will have the wisdom to keep the pressure on terrorists worldwide. The current Israeli operation in Gaza should be supported by the incoming administration until Hamas is utterly destroyed.
Mr. Obama has inherited a windfall as the price of oil continues to drop, but the window of opportunity might be short-lived. Now is the time for aggressive measures against Iran for the purpose of regime change. This does not necessarily mean overt military action, but it’s going to require tough action. Mr. Obama will have the media largely on his side, an advantage that a McCain administration would not enjoy. We can expect Code Pink and others from the looney left to be marginalized by a press sympathetic to the new administration.
We will know soon enough in what ways President Obama intends to deal with terrorism. Hopefully his ambition will require a pragmatic approach to foreign affairs. Defeatism will not make him a person of historical significance, and he’s probably smart enough to realize it. The quicker the far left becomes disenchanted with Mr. Obama, the better it will be for America. Conservatives might actually find in our new president reasons to support him. Let’s hope so. We should give our new president the benefit of starting with a clean slate, and then judge him on the results.
