Go Big, Go Long or Go Home

I will use this as a follow up to The Nature of our Enemy, because what our country decides will directly reflect how seriously we take the threat of Islamic Extremism.

Wapo has an article with the three options the pentagon is considering.

"Go Big," the first option, originally contemplated a large increase in U.S. troops in Iraq to try to break the cycle of sectarian and insurgent violence. A classic counterinsurgency campaign, though, would require several hundred thousand additional U.S. and Iraqi soldiers as well as heavily armed Iraqi police.

"Go Long" -- and calls for cutting the U.S. combat presence in favor of a long-term expansion of the training and advisory efforts. Under this mixture of options, which is gaining favor inside the military, the U.S. presence in Iraq, currently about 140,000 troops, would be boosted by 20,000 to 30,000 for a short period, the officials said.

"Go Home," the third option, calls for a swift withdrawal of U.S. troops. It was rejected by the Pentagon group as likely to push Iraq directly into a full-blown and bloody civil war.

Seems that in the short term, at least, we will be sending more troops for that last push to stabilize Iraq.

There are many that refuse to even consider the possibility that we CAN stabilize Iraq and it does look difficult, but we are no strangers to difficulty. The alternate option of cutting and running and sitting back to wait for our enemies, emboldened by our retreat, to come here, is unacceptable.

They came once, in my mind, that was one time too many. The next time, they may have a nuclear surprise for us and when that happens, those same people screaming for retreat now, will be screaming for justice. It will be too late by then.

I will leave you with Army Gen. John P. Abizaid's words.

Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, the top U.S. military commander for the Middle East, expressed a similar view last week when he told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he thinks that immediate troop withdrawals would increase the violence in Iraq.

OpenTrackback Monday.

Others discussing this:
Outside the Beltway.

Keep up with the discussion here.

More reactions:
Power Line, , Riehl World View, Right Wing News, QandO, Outside The Beltway, The Jawa Report, CBS News, PoliBlog (TM), CNN Political Ticker, Hot Air, Gateway Pundit, Little Green Footballs, Decision '08, Needlenose, and Macsmind