What the Heck was I Thinking!?

Instapundit points to a post at Pajamas Media by Mohammad Fadhil on the implications of the term “last chance.” 

I think people who use this “last chance” idea are not helping either Iraq or America. Instead they are of the type of people who do not want to deal with the challenge seriously.

He has a good point. If this is a last chance situation, then failure can come with any setback.

If it’s the next move in a long campaign to establish democracy in Iraq, then this indicates that there will be a lot of work to do and a long time before full success comes to pass.

“Last chance” has a tone of defeatism, as if Iraq was a totally lost cause. It is anything but. In fact the huge change that’s been happening in the form of replacing a totalitarian regime with a democratic one is a lengthy process that cannot be accomplished through military action alone.

Or overnight. ArmyWifeToddlerMom adds:

I am currently pissed off at the Dems (nothing new), wanting to put a time limit on the success in Iraq, they are talking about Iraq from both sides of they’re mouths at this point. And from all I have read on the Iraq Study Group (I mean the Iraq surrender group) , it is a politically biased piece of crap.

Back to Mr. Fadhil,

From where I sit in Baghdad I see clearly that those who talk about last chances are in fact rushing failure in Iraq. What they wish to do is to set up a very high bar that is technically impossible jump over within a few months or even a year.

The question American news and politics consumers should be asking themselves is, “Who benefits (in any degree) from failure in Iraq?” “What is the benefit?” And lastly, “What are the consequences of failure?”