"There is a power in public opinion which will not tolerate an incompetent or unworthy man to hold in his weak or wicked hands the lives and fortunes of his fellow citizens."--Martin van Buren (1782-1862), 8th President of the United States
Our Number One Priority by Mick Youther
Prior to the Election Day 2006, polls indicated that Americans opposed "staying the course" in Iraq by a margin of three to one. The Bush Administration responded by stopping the use of the phrase "staying the course" ; and started referring to its unchanged policy as "adapting to win" . This didn't fool anybody, and on election day, voters sent a clear message: We have had enough of the War on Iraq. It is time to bring the troops home.
Obviously, somebody didn't get the message:
• "We'll continue to be flexible, and we'll make the changes necessary to succeed. But there's one thing I'm not going to do, I'm not going to pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete. We can accept nothing less than victory for our children and our grandchildren." --George W. Bush, NATO summit in Riga, Latvia, AP, 11/28/06
• "Asked if the Vietnam war held any messages for U.S. policy in Iraq, Bush said it showed that 'we'll succeed unless we quit.'" --AP, 11/26/06 (Based on that statement, we can assume that Mr. Bush is willing to sacrifice at least 58,000 American lives and spend eight and a half years in Iraq--like in Viet Nam, and still not give up.)
• "I know what the President thinks about Iraq. I know what I think. And we're not looking for an exit strategy. We're looking for victory." -- Vice President Dick Cheney, quoted by Seymour Hersh in the 11/27/06 issue of The New Yorker
Even before the election, Vice President Cheney announced, "We've got the basic strategy right," and vowed that they were going to go "full speed ahead" with their Iraq policy--no matter what the American people said on Election Day (ABC News, 11/3/06).
The only problem with their approach is that no one understands what the mission is; or knows what victory means; and they don't appear to have a strategy.
• "There's no plan! You open up this plan for victory. There's no plan there. It's just, "Stay the course." That doesn't solve any problem. It's worse today than it was six months ago..."--John Murtha (D-PA), Meet the Press, 6/18/06
• "[President Bush] doesn't understand the urgency of this. It's all victory for him, but I don't know what that means anymore in Iraq. I do know what we are doing now doesn't work." -- Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), AP, 11/15/06
Gen. John Abizaid, the top American military commander for the Middle East, recently testified before the Senate and House Armed Services Committees. The General explained that America couldn't significantly reduce its troop strength in Iraq without causing a serious problem; but he also said we couldn't significantly increase our troop strength without causing a serious problem (to me, that sounds like a serious problem). He estimated that the U.S. had "four to six months" to secure Iraq before the country slips into chaos.
It is always the next four to six months that's important in Iraq. For the past three and a half years (longer than we fought in WWII), we have been strung along with promises that the next Iraqi election would make the difference; or as soon as they agree on this, or as soon as we do that--things will get better. Be patient. Look! Isn't that a light at the end of the tunnel?
• "... in the next six months to a year...you will see significant progress made by the Iraqi military, and we are pretty much on the right track in many areas..."--Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), 12/4/05
• "... we're in a critical and crucial time. We're either going to lose this thing or win this thing [the Iraq war] within the next several months." --The same Senator McCain (R-AZ), almost a year later, 11/12/06 (At every opportunity, Sen. McCain also falsely states that the American people do not want to withdraw our troops from Iraq.)
The fact is that things have not improved in Iraq. They have steadily deteriorated, and our own intelligence agencies believe Mr. Bush's Wars have fueled an increase in world terrorism and turned Iraq into a training ground for terrorists (with real, live targets).
Mick Youther is an American citizen, an independent voter, a veteran, a parent, a Christian, a scientist, a writer, and all-around nice guy who has been aroused from a comfortable apathy by the high crimes and misdemeanors of the Bush Administration.
"After six years of King George and the Rubberstamp Republicans, there are many things begging for the attention of the new Democratically-controlled Congress; but their number one priority must be bringing the troops home."
I respectfully disagree. The most important priority of the new Congress has to be to restore the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the rule of law, and the system of checks and balanced destroyed by the The USAPATRIOT Act, The Domestic Security Enhancement Act, The RealID Act, The Military Commissions Act of 2006 and The Defense Authorization Act.
There is no reason why these two cannot be accomplished concurrently or why an effort to begin withdrawing the American presence from Iraq cannot begin immediately. But if Congress had to prioritize these two, attention to the war should be deferred until the republic is restored and strengthened again.
by
Yaybob (10 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 164 comments)
on Saturday, December 2, 2006 at 5:08:07 AM
I agree with you on the importance of restoring our Constitutional protects is a top priority, and that more than one thing can and should be worked on simultaneously (I would add fixing our electoral system to that top priority list). I only name "bringing the troops home" as our number one priority because every day a couple more Americans die in Bush's Folly. It needs to be stopped yesterday, or last year, or better yet; it should have never started in the first place. Thank you for the comment.
by
Mick Youther (74 articles, 3 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 10 comments)
on Saturday, December 2, 2006 at 11:26:27 AM
...I am not the only one who has no idea what the ultimate goal is in Iraq. DUBYA keeps yammering about winning, and I can't see any win anywhere. The country is in civil war. Everyone but us is pulling out. There is nothing to win. There never was. All there is now is anarchy on a grand scale.
We lost Iraq on day one. Everything since that time has been a waste of time and life. There is no winning. There is most likely no breaking even either. We took a basically stable government and replaced it with Anarchy Light. Now it's gone to full blown anarchy, and still DUBYA, living in his own private Idaho, thinks there is something to win.
Has anyone but me noticed DUBYA is out of his mind?
Blessed be!
Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 863 comments)
on Sunday, December 3, 2006 at 12:59:27 AM
