Promises of a short war, sweet as the breath of liberty and barely bitter, are now being disclaimed. Promises of an army's capitulation, as though a maiden at last surrendering to a suitor, have not been fulfilled. Promises that resistance would be swiftly overcome, that this combat would be painless, that a quick thrust would open up Iraq to a newfound freedom have been revealed as the sly whispers, the sweet nothings of a engorged arrogance.
We were promised a short war. Now we are told the struggle will take time.
We were promised mass surrenders. We have been met by continued opposition.
We were promised the cheers of liberated crowds. We have been greeted by sullen demands for assistance, belligerent questioning of our motives, and no flowers.
Our policy makers made speeches and gave interviews about the brave future. Our press and our media repeated the daring assurances of surgical precision and explosive speed as though the words were graven images, weighty, solid, deserving of worshipful respect. The world listened to the bold predictions. Some listened with the fear that the audacious would be right, that this war could be fought with little cost, promoting an expanding mandate to reshape the world and encouraging a hubris that might in fact unmake it. Some listened with fear that the forecast was false, that the assurances of easy invasion would turn into a scrap for every bloody mile. And some listened with hate, absorbing every overconfident nuance, twisting prediction of success into prophecy of failure.
Now, less than one week into the fire, our commanders and their fools speak of lowered expectations and "quagmires". They speak of time needed, where yesterday they spoke of perfect timetables and instant success. They speak now of effort, where they once spoke of ease. They finally talk of blood and misery, where they had avoided such topics before.
This backpedaling can only serve to encourage those who question America's strength. They can use our own words against us: first, our own overbold insistence on our power and knowledge, and now our own disclaimers of total control and our admissions of ignorance. Every day the war continues, every eruption where pacification was assured, every capture of an American, every report of resistance stauncher than expected, every delay in the grand plan encourages those that fight us. See, they can say, the Americans are not so powerful as they claimed - even the Yankees admit that now; the Americans can be fought.
. . .
Some might fail to take my point in the above. It is simply this: Don't make promises you cannot keep. You will look untrustworthy on the one hand, and you will look weak on the other. That some things are outside of your control should lead you to caution or qualification, not to certainties whose collapse can be blamed on the other actors not knowing their lines.
Posted by Martial