Rumsfeld on Iraq

On this third anniversary of the US occupation of Iraq read the words of a true bveliever, the Secretary of Defence.

Though there are those who will never be convinced that the cause in Iraq is worth the costs, anyone looking realistically at the world today -- at the terrorist threat we face -- can come to only one conclusion: Now is the time for resolve, not retreat.

Consider that if we retreat now, there is every reason to believe Saddamists and terrorists will fill the vacuum -- and the free world might not have the will to face them again. Turning our backs on postwar Iraq today would be the modern equivalent of handing postwar Germany back to the Nazis. It would be as great a disgrace as if we had asked the liberated nations of Eastern Europe to return to Soviet domination because it was too hard or too tough or we didn't have the patience to work with them as they built free countries.

The whole statement is in the Washington Post and elsewhere, I'm sure. I was self-conscious about using the term occupation until I read the word postwar. One is as applicable as the other. And both will apply after the fact, regardless of the outcome.

And the outcome hangs precariously in the balance.