When flaky flacks like Kerry or Obama say that OIF was the “worst strategic blunder in history,” I want so much to ask them “Okay, and your strategy was…?”

But Sen Reid has explained that is an invalid question. They get to criticize but have no requirement to offer a viable alternative. Them’s the rules and they made them.

As for what it actually takes to win a war, few people have given it much thought, even historically. In terms of analyzing WWII even the most diehard opponents of strategic bombing will admit that tactical airpower was of immense value to the Allied armies advancing from both the West and the East.

But the main reason that the tactical air forces were so effective was that the Luftwaffe had pretty much forfeited the tactical game by 1944. And they did that because the strategic air attacks were bleeding them white. By late 1944 even the USAAF had figured out the game. Want to insure that the Allied fighter bombers could romp among the Panzers unmolested? Simple. Pick out a nearby German city and send in a heavy bomber force. The correct approach would be for the German fighters to intercept the fighter bombers and leave their city to its fate – but they could not do that and hold their heads up in public. So they split their available interceptors and lost both battles.

“Bleed them white” as we did to the Luftwaffe – Andrew, you have cracked the code!