Decisive Victory

The game between Baltimore and Denver was nerve-wracking for spectators on either side of the board. Consider that, up until late in the fourth quarter, the spread between Denver and Baltimore was never more than 3. Baltimore scored first in the first quarter, shortly after Tatum Bell's fumble, to go up 3-0. Then in the second Denver drove to tie it up at 3-3. Then in the third, Denver managed another field goal to go up 6-3. At that point in time, the defenses had held very strong on both sides, and the game was still up in the air. Baltimore seemed by far more capable to drive the ball and score than Denver had--Plummer's 8 completions for 6 yards in the first half was testimony to that--so it seemed that perhaps we would be looking at either a 6-6 entry into overtime, or a 10-6 last minute battle.

Can you imagine what would have happened if this game was a war? Can you imagine the people demanding the Broncos to just throw in the towel, even though the score was a marginally favorable 6-3, because it seemed unlikely the Broncos would win? Well, maybe they wouldn't demand the Broncos give up, but they might, turning off the TV in disgust or leaving the stadium early because they can't bear to watch Baltimore advance on the game winning drive. But either way, they would have missed out on Denver's tide-turning interception and the subsequent drive that put them up 13-3 to stay.

What was missing in this game was a decisive victory. Neither team had a strong advantage over the other. Each quarterbacks made mistakes, each team's running game and passing game were held in check, each team turned the ball over several times, and the score was near dead-even for the majority of the game. Things would have been much different if at half, one team was leading the other 35-0.

The war in Iraq has a few similarities to the Broncos-Ravens game. First off, their is no descisive victory in sight. While we have many advantages, so does the opposition, and though they strike and we strike back, no headway seems to be made. The insurgents are still killing people at an atrocious rate, but the expected civil war has not broken out, and the American military is still in Iraq. If anything, right now the Americans are up 6-3 against the insurgents, and currently the insurgents are driving.

The difference is that most of the fans have left the stadium. The few die-hards are still cheering for all they're worth, but they can't muster the noise to force the insurgents to false start, or miscommunicate a play. Thus we need to kick our players into gear and have them make a few spectacular plays that will change the flow of the game. Keep in mind, we want to win in Iraq, so we can't just throw in the towel and write it off as another game lost.

To this effect, I will mimic a number of pundits who are calling for more troops. We should increase our numbers in Iraq to 500,000 or more. We should take immediate action to seal off the boarders with Iran and Syria. Finally we lock down the cities with continual patrols. We will catch and kill more insurgents, we will cut off their supplies from outside, and once peace a stability start taking hold, then we can start letting the Iraqis take charge. Otherwise we are trying to defend five wide receivers with one man--he might be excellent at pass coverage, but he is still one man defending against five. Someone is bound to be open.

So let's put our men on the field and win this.