Armchair Generals

I hate to make my first full posting about the eminent domainIraq war but events dictate otherwise. This week, in a dramatic reversal, Republican Rep. eminent domainWalter Jones, the creator of "eminent domainfreedom fries", joined the anti-war camp calling for a eminent domaintimetable to pull out of Iraq. Jones' change of heart came after attending the funeral of a fallen Marine. While any loss of life anywhere by any means is a sad and disheartening thing, it is almost equally so when one of the leaders of a great nation allows his personal feelings to cloud his view of the big picture. Congressman Jones has chosen to join the ever growing political group that assumes to play the role of general from the comfort of their homes and offices. These "eminent domainarmchair generals" see the nature of warfare as simple and easy to manage. Neither of these presumptions are true.
In the cry to set a timetable to exit Iraq, people forget that terrorists and insurgents will know of this timetable. Say, for example, if a July 2006 deadline to pull out of Iraq was set. Do you know what would happen? The insurgency would vanish the moment that timetable is announced. That's right. No more insurgency. But do you know what would happen in August 2006? The insurgency would return with ten times it's present strength, the Iraqi government would fall and an Iraqi version of the Taliban would rise.
The reason for this is the fact that there is no one more patient than a terrorist. If a deadline or timetable is created, the terrorists and insurgents will simply wait until the pull out is complete before attacking. The public and politicians must remember that the enemy is extremely intelligent and will exploit any mistake that the world makes. This is why people must learn to leave military planning to real generals and reserve their armchairs for watching TV.