Strategic Overview Update

When i first started reading blogs in the summer of 2003, Steven Den Beste was one of the top 5 bloggers on the Net, right up there with Andrew Sullivan, Glenn Reynolds and Josh Marshall. A retired software engineer, he was an "early adopter" who had begun before Sept. 11 and his popularity soared after the events of that day, given that his clear thinking was reflected by a terrific writing style. His site, USS Clueless, was a must read for anyone interested in military, strategic and political issues following Sept 11 and a at least two of his essays were published on The Wall Street Journal's Opinion Journal site. Den Beste "retired" from blogging in 2004 feeling spent and frustrated by the time he had to spend managing comments and the trolls that popular sites tend to attract. It was a loss, but whenever a blogger quits because they just aren't interested anymore, all you can do is wish them well and hope they return in some fashion, even if it is intermittently. You can't demand that someone keep at it because this is, with very few exceptions, an all volunteer occupation which people engage in because they find it rewarding. Thankfully, some of slack Den Beste left in the blogoshpere has been filled by Richard Fernandez aka "Wretchard the Cat" at The Belmont Club, whose long posts and sensitivity to historical context are similar to what Den Beste used to write.

In summer of 2003 Den Beste wrote a long essay titled Strategic Overview:

The purpose of this document is to provide a high level strategic view of the cause of the war, the reason that the United States became involved in it, the fundamental goals the US has to achieve to win it, and the strategies the US is following, as well as an evaluation of the situation as of July, 2003. Most of what is here has been explored in far greater detail in numerous posts made on USS Clueless

It is now late in 2005 and bloggerTigerhawk has taken it upon himself to review and update the essay and Den Beste himself thinks that Tigerhawk has done an excellent job.

The point of this post is twofold. 1 - Let you know that Den Beste is blogging again at RedState and you should read his stuff and 2 - Encourage you to read Tigerhawk's update.

Some key points:

Neither the House of Saud no Pervez Musharref were going to lift a finger against their own Islamists unless they knew that the United States was committed. Only boots on the ground would suffice to prove American commitment after more than thirty years of geopolitical cowardice

My own view is that we are some distance from defeating the Sunni nationalists but that the Shia and the Kurds, acting through the government, will be able to contain it within the next few years. Al Qaeda, though, is on the run in Iraq. We have a chance to humiliate it if we chase it from the region. We must not let that chance slip by

"Since we know that Saddam would try again to develop or buy nuclear weapons
(having tried at least twice before 2003) and we now know that A.Q. Khan would have readily sold him the technology had the heat come off, we would have had to deal with Saddam when and if containment did collapse.]"