You Might Just Wanna Think It Over»

Here’s a classic of the Fred Kagan “everything in Iraq is A-OK!” genre. This is the kind of piece that demands multiple posts to capture its inner beauty. But for now: Fred gives a definition of success! In fact, he says, the definition he offers has already been put forward by the Bush administration. So why do war critics unfairly say success remains undefined?

Virtually everyone who wants to win this war agrees: Success will have been achieved when Iraq is a stable, representative state that controls its own territory, is oriented toward the West, and is an ally in the struggle against militant Islamism, whether Sunni or Shia. This has been said over and over. Why won’t war critics hear it? Is it because they reject the notion that such success is achievable and therefore see the definition as dishonest or delusional? Is it because George Bush has used versions of it and thus discredited it in the eyes of those who hate him? Or is it because it does not offer easily verifiable benchmarks to tell us whether or not we are succeeding? There could be other reasons–perhaps critics fear that even thinking about success or failure in Iraq will weaken their demand for an immediate “end to the war.”

Uh, perhaps not. Perhaps instead the definition on offer is so ludicrously maximalist and so patently unachievable at any reasonable cost (”an ally against militant Islamism, whether Sunni or Shia”) and so divorced from the national interest that people have a hard time taking it seriously. Look, I want an ally against militant Islamism, whether Sunni or Shia, too. But, as they say, I also want a pony. (Or at least a motorcycle with a sidecar for my dog. And a leather helmet and pair of vintage goggles for him too.) What Kagan puts on offer isn’t a definition of success, it’s a wish list.

You know, one hopes that he’s getting special favors from the Pentagon. I’d hate to think of Kagan as peddling himself for free. I might have to e-mail young Herschel Kagan and see what he thinks of this piece.