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Iraq: It's Just Not Cricket. Or, Maybe It Is.
May 29, 2008 | Posted by Abu Muqawama - 3:53pm | 30 Comments
At the end of the third inning we declared victory and said the game's over. It ain't over. It isn't going to be over in future wars. If we're talking about the future, we need to talk about not how you win the peace as a separate part of the war, but you've got to look at this thing from start to finish. It's not a phased conflict; there isn't a fighting part and then another part. It is nine innings. And at the end of the game, somebody's going to declare victory. And whatever blood is poured onto the battlefield could be wasted if we don't follow it up with understanding what victory is. -- Gen. (Ret.) Anthony Zinni, USMC
A few weekends ago, Abu Muqawama sat in the stands at Lord's getting rained on, waiting for England to play New Zealand in the first test of the Kiwi's tour. They never did. There were, like, eight overs played before the umpires called it. Abu Muqawama limped home to the less fashionable neighborhoods of London, water-logged and grumpy.
It's a funny game, test cricket. What kind of game can go on for five days and not produce a winner? That's what ended up happening in the rain-shortened first test, in fact. A draw. In baseball, we play until we produce a winner -- even if that means going into extra innings and making Wade Boggs pitch. (Or Aaron Boone bat. Shudder.)
That having been said, Abu Muqawama got to thinking about Gen. Zinni's nine-inning analogy and Iraq. On the one hand, it's a pretty good sports analogy to explain why stability operations are important. Once you declare an end to "major combat operations," the enemy may or may not go home. On the other hand, the end games in counterinsurgency campaigns rarely end with the equivalent of a walk-off home run. Or a clear victor.
How will Iraq end? Probably not with a clear-cut victor. It will probably end a draw. The U.S.-led coalition of the willing posted a huge first-innings score of 568 and followed it up by arrogantly fielding exclusively fast-bowlers and allowing the enemy to post a 367 in their first innings. (We must have thought we were the Windies c. 1982.) We then collapsed for a 97 in the second innings and are now desperately trying to hang on for the win in the enemy's second innings. He might win. So might we. But at least we've got some spin bowlers on the field now. (And while Abu Muqawama isn't trying to give Kilcullen a disproportionate amount of the credit, he does kinda look and talk like Shane Warne, doesn't he?)
Abu Muqawama is guessing it's going to end a draw. And while we'll be disappointed we haven't won, we can take some solace in the fact that our arrogance and second-innings collapse didn't sink us.
A few weekends ago, Abu Muqawama sat in the stands at Lord's getting rained on, waiting for England to play New Zealand in the first test of the Kiwi's tour. They never did. There were, like, eight overs played before the umpires called it. Abu Muqawama limped home to the less fashionable neighborhoods of London, water-logged and grumpy.
It's a funny game, test cricket. What kind of game can go on for five days and not produce a winner? That's what ended up happening in the rain-shortened first test, in fact. A draw. In baseball, we play until we produce a winner -- even if that means going into extra innings and making Wade Boggs pitch. (Or Aaron Boone bat. Shudder.)
That having been said, Abu Muqawama got to thinking about Gen. Zinni's nine-inning analogy and Iraq. On the one hand, it's a pretty good sports analogy to explain why stability operations are important. Once you declare an end to "major combat operations," the enemy may or may not go home. On the other hand, the end games in counterinsurgency campaigns rarely end with the equivalent of a walk-off home run. Or a clear victor.
How will Iraq end? Probably not with a clear-cut victor. It will probably end a draw. The U.S.-led coalition of the willing posted a huge first-innings score of 568 and followed it up by arrogantly fielding exclusively fast-bowlers and allowing the enemy to post a 367 in their first innings. (We must have thought we were the Windies c. 1982.) We then collapsed for a 97 in the second innings and are now desperately trying to hang on for the win in the enemy's second innings. He might win. So might we. But at least we've got some spin bowlers on the field now. (And while Abu Muqawama isn't trying to give Kilcullen a disproportionate amount of the credit, he does kinda look and talk like Shane Warne, doesn't he?)
Abu Muqawama is guessing it's going to end a draw. And while we'll be disappointed we haven't won, we can take some solace in the fact that our arrogance and second-innings collapse didn't sink us.
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