Senator Mel Martinez of Florida said that it would not the other day on Fox News:
I believe that cutting and running from a difficult endeavor is not a way to strengthen our military, but a way to weaken it.
Martinez was referring to the "strategic redeployment" plan advocated by many senior Democrats. In the current Weekly Standard, Frederick Kagan explains why Martinez is right and why "redeployment on any significant scale will not incentivize the Iraqi military. It will lead to its collapse."' Kagan continues:
There will be no "decent interval" here during which we withdraw in reasonably good order--the withdrawal itself is likely to occur in the midst of rising violence. Instead of pictures of Americans on the embassy roof in Saigon, we will see images of Iraqi death squads at work with U.S. troops staying on their bases nearby. And let us not forget that in the world of Al Jazeera, we will be accused of encouraging those death squads. The overall result will be searing and scarring. The damage to the morale of the military could be far greater than what will result from burdening soldiers with longer or more frequent tours of duty in a stepped-up effort to achieve victory. Those who are concerned about the well-being of the Army should fear defeat of this type more than anything.