.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}

Born at the Crest of the Empire

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

"A chance for victory"

This is what the military is down to, planning for a "chance for victory."
As President Bush weighs new policy options for Iraq, support has coalesced in the Pentagon behind a military plan to "double down" in the country with a substantial buildup in U.S. troops, an increase in industrial aid and a major combat offensive against militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff will present their assessment to President Bush at the Pentagon today. Military officials, including some advising the chiefs, have argued that an intensified effort might be the only way to get the U.S. strategy in Iraq right and provide a chance for victory.


As I was trying to say in the post below, the problem with "doubling down" is that if you lose, you lose big. There is no safety net.

posted by mikevotes at 9:35 AM

4 Comments:

  • This is how traders get wiped out. Gamblers too. Same thing.

    "Stop loss" is a term in trading where you collar in your bet before you put it down. You decide what level of pain you are willing to take and when you get there, like it or not, you take the loss and walk away.

    What you DON'T do is double down when things are going against you.

    They are using the terminology all wrong.

    By Blogger Praguetwin, at 10:40 AM  

  • That's a good point. It's a very interesting language choice.

    Maybe they're doing so to try to emphasize the "win" aspect?

    "Double down" sounds so much less painful and fatalistic that "one last push."

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 12:20 PM  

  • It does that.

    Perhaps a more accurate term would be "all in."

    By Blogger Praguetwin, at 4:29 PM  

  • Somewhere els, I don't remember where, somebody was talking about the gambler with empty pockets going double or nothing.

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 5:35 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home