Ralph, the sword is up or the Book is open – take your pick

If nothing else, this should get Ralph more face time with the MSM.

For the first time, we may face a problem we have no hope of fixing.
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Here's the brutal reality: If Iraq is destined to become yet another monument to Arab failure, there could be far worse outcomes than a bloody civil war - as long as our troops are out of it. We should be drawing up contingency plans to move a reinforced division and adequate airpower to the Kurdish provinces in the north, to withdraw the remainder of our forces to the south, and then to let Iraq's Sunni Arabs and Shias go at it.

That is one of the worse Courses of Action I have heard yet.

As always, you have to understand that Ralph’s dial goes to 11; but he offers two options here, only one that could be taken seriously.

Now the only way to avoid an outright civil war is for our troops and the Iraqi army to break the sectarian militias in a head-on fight. The media will howl and we'll see a spike in American casualties. But it's our own fault. We put off going to the dentist until the tooth rotted. Now it's going to hurt.

That is viable to discuss. The next though, that is just not worthy of discussion.

The Venetians were a very binary people, and it worked for well over half a millennia, - you are either at war or you are not. They had a great phrase to describe it.

Quando el leon alsa la coa tuti li altri sbasa la soa

Roughly that translates to,

When the lion raises his tail, everyone else lowers theirs

They even had a flag for war, and a flag for peace. Yep, watch that flag close when the Venetian galley is row’n your way.

You do not go with the “run to Basra and Kurdistan and see what happens” option. If you are going to do that, you might as well run up the white flag, negotiate with Sadr your retreat to Kuwait and Umm Qasr and tell the Kurds they will have to work things out with the Turks on their own.

Take the disgrace and hollow military of the post-Vietnam era, square it, and throw in the “feed the monster” results of our retreat from Somalia, square it too. That is it. Remember this and this? Want that for Iraq and, don’t be naïve, Afghanistan too? I know some do, but you?

In war you win or loose. In prison you fight, f^ck, or hit the fence.

Fight and win or bring everyone home from Asia, Europe, Southwest Asia, and while we are at it close the door on NATO and let the Southeast, Mountain, and Great Plains USA go our own way and the hell with the rest of you. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

D@mnit Ralph, you ruined my breakfast. Where is my Super Colon Blow?

Hat tip that lovable Commie.