Mohammed at Iraq the Model has given us his take on why things aren't going as well as they could be in the War on Terror, specifically on the Iraqi front.

Part Two of this series focuses on America's mistakes, as Part One focused on Iraqi mistakes.

I chose this order for my thoughts because Iraqis with their mistakes contributed more to the current problems in Iraq than America did.

This is an Iraqi civilian, remember. If he's not blaming America for everything that's not perfect in Iraq, then Americans shouldn't, either.

In Mohammed's opinion, the mistake the Americans made was hanging out in Iraq instead of marching on to Damascus and Tehran, a point I've often tried to make around here, and a point I actually missed when Mohammed's brother Omar made it to me in an email this past summer. I had asked point blank (per the wager I had with Freder_Frederson) whether the situation in Iraq were a civil war.

I will call it a foreign intervention from regional powers aiming at sparking a huge civil war.
we're not there yet but we will if those foreign hands are not chopped and taken off Iraq asap.

Those "hands" belong to Syria and Iran. I've made this point many times - that Iraq is a key front in the War on Terror, a point that the Left denies to this day. Iraq is situated in the perfect location to attack Syria, and with troops there and in Afghanistan, we have the Iranians surrounded. Honestly, I never gave much thought to the idea that we should have just marched on, even with Sage's suggestions that seem, in retrospect, to have been saying much the same thing.

There is much that we can do for the Iraqis in either case, but I can definitely see Mohammed's point - that we could do much more by telling Ahmagaynutjob and the Useless Nitwits (h/t Misha) to go fuck themselves and moving a significant force against the Iranians and Syrians and anyone else who wants a taste of American gunpowder. Wars aren't won sitting around waiting for the enemy to come to you, as we learned at Pearl Harbor, and are now re-learning in the Middle East.

America's worst mistakes were hesitation, failing to invest the initial victory in Iraq and Afghanistan and not using her power and influence to achieve more. America simply did not act like a winner but instead stood idly like a weary giant doing nothing but complain about mosquito bites.

Some might ask ... Do we have to do all of this? Go through all these battles and change those regimes?
My answer is Yes. For one reason; terrorists and terror-supporting regimes have chosen war and America, and the values it stands for, is the target and they will not stop shooting at America until they are dead or arrested.

It is a war that was imposed on the free world by murderous maniacs who would do anything to destroy the human civilization and they would not hesitate to use any means to destroy those who are different. Fighting those criminals now will cost less blood and resources than fighting them later.

I'm not sure I agree that we "sat idly by", but the rest of this quote is dead on. We MUST fight these animals now - before they can become invincible.

I've long held that we will win the war, and are doing much better than the media is reporting. I'm standing firm upon that. Why? Simple. All it will take to get Washington to do the right thing and take out the terror sponsors in Iran and Syria is another major terrorist attack at home, or another situation that reignites America's thirst for revenge. It seems many people have forgotten 9/11.

I say just go in and do it. We have the capability to waste those assholes in short order. American lives will be saved. Iraqi lives will be saved. Terrorists will be killed and forced to places that can't afford to support them. That's the idea of the war, isn't it?