Running smart or running scared

From Debka: The surprise move [to hand over sovereignty] prompted a rush of explanations by various informed sources who presented it as:

1. An attempt to pre-empt the spectacular Iraqi guerrilla-al Qaeda terrorist strikes that intelligence experts judged were scheduled for June 30. It was hoped that the secretly-planned fait accompli of the transition would catch the enemy off-balance.

2. A demonstration to the assembled NATO leaders that Washington and London, in asking for alliance assistance for the Iraqi army, seriously meant what they said about handing power over to an indigenous regime in Baghdad. The formal act was supposed to finally win round any waverers.

However, DEBKAfile political and military analysts believe these arguments which may sit well in the diplomatic arena are unlikely to stand the test of reality inside Iraq, where the precipitate handover looks less like a coolly reasoned move and more like a counsel of desperation, or even the loss of control by coalition leaders…. Iraq’s interim foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari, in Istanbul for the NATO summit, explained the move in a nutshell. He said power was transferred ahead of time in view of “the deteriorating security situation.” In other words, the Americans and British passed a hot potato to Baghdad before the brew heated up still further.

I wonder if the administration’s defenders will insist this is all part of a grand secret strategy to win… something. Then again, perhaps the Fallujah debacle has finally convinced them that this administration has less strategic competence than the average thirteen year-old wargamer. Don’t get me wrong; I’ll be very pleased if they pull the troops out and start actually dealing with the war declared on America instead of playing at nation-building. But nothing they have said or done leads me to conclude that they have any heart for taking on the twin centers of the global jihad.

Right from the beginning, when the administration showed that they would rather strip rights from American cititzens than do anything to offend illegal aliens, I had serious doubts about whether the administration was actually serious about its undeclared war on method. In fact, in my very first political column, I warned about how the response to 9/11 would likely be used to America’s detriment. You can look it up in the archive at voxday.net if you like.

It’s always interesting to see how we must divulge the contents of our bank account and allow the FBI and NSA to scan all of our personal communications because if we don’t a terrorist might possibly do something bad somewhere. And yet, the borders remain wide open. It amazes me that the American people – conservatives, no less – continue to buy into this.