Optimism

Last year when we embarked upon this monumental undertaking, my one fear was always: What if we fail this occupation? Reader FH of History's End comments

I for one am optimistic, if only because I can't stomach what failure requires of us.

I agree with that.

I think failure in Iraq will have catastrophic consequences not only for the Iraqi's and America itself, but for the entire world as a whole. al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups will be empowered greatly and we'll have to deal with attacks more frequent and more deadly. But scariest of all is, if we fail and are forced to withdraw, AQ has a large enough prescence in the country now to take it over. We can't never let that happen, and like FH, I cannot stomach what we would have to do to that country in the event that that worst-case scenario comes into being. But now in light of the incredible outrage worldwide generated by the Abu Ghraib photos, us war supporters who based our decision primarily on humanitarian/anti-fascist regime change have lost much of the moral high ground. While apologies and court martials etc. are an absolute must, this will haunt us for years to come. It may have struck a fatal blow into the heart of the chief goal of winning the hearts and mind of the Iraqi people. I do not mean to sound defeatist.

We must see this through.