We're Winning

My old friend Ralph Peters has an op/ed worth reading in today's New York Post ("Defeating Terror: Despite the Pols, We're Winning").

According to the military expert, America is winning the war against terror, despite the MSM and the ususal politicians playing partisan politics.

"The mainstream media said it couldn't be done, so the Iraqis did it: Under new Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, they formed a permanent government based on free elections. (Those free elections were supposed to be impossible, too - remember?)..."

...Headlines from Afghanistan always read "Five Soldiers Killed and Wounded," not "150 Taliban Killed." If today's journalists reported the Battle of Midway, we'd read "U.S. Aircraft Shot From Skies," with a brief mention of the destruction of the Japanese carrier fleet buried at the bottom..."

...Al Qaeda has been broken. Yes, its remnants remain deadly. Yes, autonomous terror cells pose a growing threat. But the organization behind 9/11 has seen its surviving leaders driven into caves and remote villages where they live in constant fear. Islamist terror may have moved beyond al Qaeda, but our government and our military deserve credit for shattering the greatest international terror ring in history."

With respect to Iran, Mr. Peters told me on the radio recently that the U.S. should be talking to Iran. One of the benefits is we’ll pick up intelligence. I completely agree. If we were ever to bomb them, we need to talk to them first.

In fact, the American public will not allow a such a campaign until talks are fully exhausted. This view is also supported by another old friend, brilliant miltary analyst Thomas P.M. Barnett.