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This Week's Attitude
And this after the cruelest month - April - was also this year's deadliest with 104 GIs killed. Last November voters sent a clear message of their dissatisfaction with the way the administration was handling the war in Iraq and elected a Congres-sional Democratic majority, hoping things would change. Well, the Democrats tried to change the course of the war, but Bush, who should hereafter be referred to as Don Veto, has stubbornly turned a deaf ear and ignored the will of voters. After vetoing the legislation due to the timetable, which was recommended by the White House-endorsed bipartisan Iraq Study Group months ago, for bringing the troops home beginning next October and ending by March 2008, Bush uttered something like, "Establishing a timetable for withdrawal would leave Baghdad in complete chaos and give the enemy an unfair advantage." Complete chaos? Unfair advantage? What does he think is going on there now? The death and destruction that's wreaked almost daily has hardly slowed since his foolish surge began several months ago. But now, he and his supporters claim it needs more time to work. The hell it does! Anyone can see the Iraqi military cannot hold up its end now - or ten years from now. (If they did it would probably get shot off anyway.) All we did by our invasion was breathe new life into a dormant civil war that's been simmering for centuries and is not likely to end anytime soon. Those who refuse to remove their heads from the sand, call it "cutting and running," but Shakespeare said it best, "Discretion is the better part of valor." In other words, a cautious withdrawal is a more sensible alternative than staying the course and just prolonging the hasty, misguided action embarked on in 2003. Proponents of the war argue that a timely departure would encourage the enemy. Is that the same enemy that was encouraged to rally and has hindered our forces since we invaded Iraq? Or the enemy that needs no encouragement to demonstrate their deep-seated hatred for Western traditions? The longer we remain in Iraq, the more the Iraqi government grows dependent on us. They've been suckling too long and it's time to wean them off mother's milk - so to speak. Heck, if Bush, his staff or any military commander had a prescription for victory, don't you think they should have employed it already? The problem was that after the invasion, there was no plan because our leaders assumed victory would be a swift "cakewalk" over a third-rate enemy. But, when they soon realized their strategy was flawed, they should have quickly devised some fresh tactics. Dubya needs to dispose of the rose-colored glasses he's worn ever since he piloted the ill-timed mission accomplished PR parade for the last four years. Not only has nothing been accomplished, except for lost lives and wasted resources, but the mission has been a calamity, except for the war's profiteers. After rejecting the troop withdrawal deadline with his veto, President Bush called on Democrats to end their "political posturing." He's got to be kidding! Bush and the GOP used politics every which way they could to start and continue this war before voters stripped them of Con-gressional power last fall. Now it's the responsibility Continued on page 22 bility of the commander-in-chief, uneasily sitting at his desk in the White House, to end the political pussyfooting and shed some light on the end of the tunnel in Iraq. The voters sent their message. The Democrats sent their message but were rebuked. It's time for Bush to admit his war was wrong from the start and present Iraqi officials, reliant on our presence, with a timetable for our gradual departure. Besides, while we've stretched our armed forces to the limit in Iraq and Afghanistan, the terrorists have used the distraction to recruit new members eager to sacrifice themselves in the name of their God. The war on terror, if carried out as it should have been after the 9/11 attacks with the elusive Osama bin Laden as the primary target, has been an unqualified fiasco that has cost this nation - to date - almost 3,400 young lives It's as equally regretful as the futile war on drugs, another government-sponsored publicity stunt that has yet to plug the flow of drugs into our borders. Regrettable collateral damage resulting from our commitment in Iraq became all too obvious this week when it was reported there was a lack of resources to help the recovery amid the rubble in the Kansas town destroyed by a tornado last Friday. National Guard assistance in the cleanup has been hampered due to a shortage of equipment that was shipped to Iraq. Over the weekend eleven more GIs died in combat and one general said more deaths should be expected through the summer as the second half of the surge is completed and the offensive intensifies. By the time the generals assess the surge in September, as promised, scores of American soldiers are likely to be lost. Then what? Has anyone in the Pentagon or the White House come up with a tactical exit strategy if the surge is as unsuccessful as the operation has been thus far? Perhaps they're keeping it under wraps so as not to encourage the enemy. The president and Congress will have to find a way to keep the money flowing to our troops, but they must also send a message to let them know that they will not have to endure with a futile plan started with misinformation and deceit, then maintained with failed, pigheaded leadership. | |||||
