Congressman King Declares (Pyrrhic) Victory in Iraq

Pyrrhic Victory Declared! Today, Congressman Steve King (IA-R), who believes President Obama will turn the United States into “a totalitarian dictatorship,” reopened his vast mind vault and launched another misguided missile. By proposing a House “Victory in Iraq” resolution, Mr. King once again solidifies his “Congressloon” rating on They Will Say ANYTHING! This afternoon, MSNBC’s Nora O’Donnell heard that the Iraq War, by “Democrat party” benchmarks, i.e. the hated “Pelosi Democrat Congress,” had been won. He wasn’t after a victory parade just yet, but we must – absolutely must – put President Obama on notice that this is now HIS war, and he’d better not blow it for the rest of us! The Congressloon observed that since the President says he’s been saddled with an economic catastrophe, he’d better protect the really good stuff, like the Iraq War “victory,” that he also inherited from the Bush years.

There’s an adolescent snarkiness attached to this that’s wide and deep, and a deeper sadness. First, there’s the patently obvious attempt to draw a bright line between Bush’s disastrous policies that misguided us into an unnecessary war and anything that President Obama does to address that dark legacy. In other words, Mr. King says, let’s now formally bless an utterly craven war as a “job well done,” and not ask the vitally important questions still gone begging about its shabby beginnings, and its consequences for our country, the Iraqi people, and the world. Second, if the idea that “victory” has been earned in Iraq were to gain traction, President Obama would be attacked for any new Iraq policies that did not keep U.S. troops there indefinitely, Korea-style. Mr.King’s press release indicated nothing less,

This victory, however, may be squandered if President Obama withdraws American forces too hastily. In an effort to avoid this, this resolution outlines the path that we have followed to victory and calls upon President Obama to maintain this hard-won victory. This resolution is intended to send an important message to President Obama – that history will judge him harshly should he choose to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Pyrrhus Understood Too Late. His “victory” resolution also carries a deep sadness with it. Yes, we clearly won the military confrontation, needless though it was. But, no, we cannot in any way claim “victory” for the occupation that followed. Giving it the maximum benefit of the doubt, only the concept of Pyrrhic victory explains Iraq, a victory literally “in name only,” a “victory” so costly that, as happened to Pyrrhus in the third century B.C., one loses the bigger war because of the so-called victory.

Let’s not forget, Iraq was not a war against the terrorism that threatened the United States after 9/11. That bigger war was always a war against alQuida, and that war wasn’t pursued to its end – how often did anyone in the post-2005 Bush administration inquire where bin Laden was? Iraq was always a war for influence and hegemony in the oil trade, and now it can only be seen, at best, as a Pyrrhic one – costly in human lives, harmful to our international reputation and heritage, and a drain on the world’s financial underpinnings. And ultimately, rather than a victory, we have a defeat. Plutarch reported that, after the battle of Aesculum, Pyrrhus cried, “Another such victory and I am undone.”

In the days ahead as you read about Mr. King’s resolution, recall the history of the Iraq quagmire, and recall the idea of Pyrrhic victory: mistaking failure for success.

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