Democrats Plan Cut And Run For Iraq
Posted on November 12, 2006
cartoon by Cagle
It shouldn’t come as much surprise to anyone. The Democrats seem to think this is what the American people voted them in for. This is the cowardly new direction America is headed for. The New York Times is excited, and while they are quick to jump the gun on oversight, they do note that the Democrats have no real plan.
But wait…they do have a plan!
Democrats, who won control of the U.S. Congress, said on Sunday they will push for a phased withdrawal of American troops from Iraq to begin in four to six months, but the White House cautioned against fixing timetables.
“First order of business is to change the direction of Iraq policy,” said Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who is expected to be chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee in the new Congress.
Democrats will press President George W. Bush’s administration to tell the Iraqi government that U.S. presence was “not open-ended, and that, as a matter of fact, we need to begin a phased redeployment of forces from Iraq in four to six months,” Levin said on ABC’s “This Week” program.
Bush has insisted that U.S. troops would not leave until Iraqis were able to take over security for their country, and has repeatedly rejected setting a timetable for withdrawal because, he says, that would only embolden the insurgents.
The White House said, however, that Bush is open to new ideas. Bush will meet on Monday with the bipartisan Iraq Study Group that is expected to recommend alternative policies in its final report.
There you go folks! Lets show the world that American is not strong enough to finish what we start. Lets leave a fledging democracy out to dry. Lets give the terrorists more ammunition to spin up propaganda of how we are retreating and they are the victors! It is the “new” direction the Democrats are leading us in! Isn’t that what America voted for?
Hmmm…maybe not. Michelle Malkin points to this poll that isn’t getting much attention.
While a bare majority of 51 percent called the Democrats’ victory “a good thing,” even more said they were concerned about some of the actions a Democratic Congress might take, including 78 percent who were somewhat or very concerned that it would seek too hasty a withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
Another 69 percent said they were concerned that the new Congress would keep the administration “from doing what is necessary to combat terrorism,” and two-thirds said they were concerned it would spend too much time investigating the administration and Republican scandals.”
Good Richard’s Almanac is right on:
What would’ve been the outcome of the Cold War if we had not occupied Germany after Nazi defeat in WW2?
Stalin would’ve marched his troops acrossed Europe and filled the vacuum of power left by absence of Nazi’s. He would’ve conquered England, and with access to the Atlantic, would’ve invaded the U.S.A. The Cuban Missile Crisis would’ve happened almost twenty years earlier.
Instead, we stood up to him by installing military bases throughout Europe. Europe became the front of the Cold War. We stunted the advance of Communist Russia, and secured peace for our homeland.
How does this relate to the current situation in Iraq?
It’s the same thing all over again. Different enemy, but the same strategy applies. Only this time, we, as a nation, are choosing to allow the enemy to advance. If we leave Iraq, we are giving Islamo-fascism the breathing room it needs to grow stronger. To recruit, train, and plot.
Jules Crittendon makes the same point in a column at the Boston Herald:
America is unique in history, a world power that spent precious blood and treasure not to subjugate but to liberate. The United States is the standard bearer of liberty, democracy and free enterprise – the greatest nation the world has ever seen.
How many times can a great nation retreat from inferior forces and remain great? If its people won’t fight for what they believe in, then of what worth are that nation’s values?
Saigon. Who rules that place now, with what values? Teheran. Beirut. Mogadishu. What lesson did the world learn from those places? Whose values dominate there today? Baghdad. Islamofascists everywhere are waiting for us to lose there. Not even to lose, but to quit.
When the United States surrenders its place in the world, who, with what values, will step forward? Brutal, dictatorial China is actively engaged, obstructing efforts to curtail Iran’s nuclear program and buying favor in the Third World – a model of cut-rate economic success admired for thumbing its nose at us.
Mark Steyn has an excellent must read in the Chicago Sun Times:
As it is, we’re in a very dark place right now. It has been a long time since America unambiguously won a war, and to choose to lose Iraq would be an act of such parochial self-indulgence that the American moment would not endure, and would not deserve to. Europe is becoming semi-Muslim, Third World basket-case states are going nuclear, and, for all that 40 percent of planetary military spending, America can’t muster the will to take on pipsqueak enemies. We think we can just call off the game early, and go back home and watch TV.
It doesn’t work like that. Whatever it started out as, Iraq is a test of American seriousness. And, if the Great Satan can’t win in Vietnam or Iraq, where can it win? That’s how China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Venezuela and a whole lot of others look at it. “These Colors Don’t Run” is a fine T-shirt slogan, but in reality these colors have spent 40 years running from the jungles of Southeast Asia, the helicopters in the Persian desert, the streets of Mogadishu. … To add the sands of Mesopotamia to the list will be an act of weakness from which America will never recover.
Sadly, it looks like that is the direction the Democrats think the America people want us to go. Here is your new direction folks! Hopefully the bi-partisan panel meeting soon can come up with some better ideas than surrender.
So, under the Baker Commission’s recommendations, what will become of the 12 million Iraqis who voted for freedom and for a normal life? President Bush has said more times than I can count, in speeches spanning the last four years, that all people want to be free, and that freedom is God’s gift to all mankind. If he doesn’t believe that, then what does he believe?
If the Iraqis are to be sold out, at least let them be sold out by the Democrats. No one expected anything better from them.
All I can say is that if this is done, this may be the first administration in history to reach a negative number on its approval rating. Do not do this. Do not.
Classical Values takes uses an interesting analogy to this:
If terrorists and mujahedeen can be likened to metastatic growths, would any doctor scale back treatments shown to be effective, if the cancer later spread when they were withdrawn?
I realize the medical model has its limitations. For starters, malignant metastases have no PR department to claim that the physician trying to remove them is actually spreading them and causing them to further metastasize.
But even if we assume that there were such malignant PR forces and they did make such a claim of malpractice, would that alter the moral duty of the physician to save the patient?
To carry the analogy further, assume the malpractice claim were found to be true. How would that give any newly appointed physician the moral right to let the disease have its way with the patient?
The US held on in Vietnam for fourteen years. We gave Vietnamization a chance. The 12 million Iraqis who voted for parliamentary parties deserve a chance to see their elected government work.
Is this why Al Qaeda celebrated the Democrat victory? But hey Dems, don’t we have an obligation to the UN?
“He also makes a point I had never thought of, which is that the United States and the Coalition have an obligation under Security Council resolutions to maintain security in Iraq until Iraqi security forces can take over.”
Others: LGF
Powerline
Castle Argghhh!
Riehl World View
Dr. Sanity
Rightwing Nuthouse
Hot Air
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiller
MsUnderestimated has video of Howard Dean talking about “Cut and Run”.
Gateway Pundit looks at stats
» Filed Under News, War On Terror
Trackback URL
Comments
3 Responses to “Democrats Plan Cut And Run For Iraq”
-
Affiliations
The Giants
-
Advertise
Donate
Our Store
Click the design to visit our store and help Stop the ACLU!
Stop the ACLU blogburst
-
More blogs about the ACLU
Syndicate Me
The question is whether the Republican party believe the anti war Mass Medias claim that they lost the election because of the Iraqi war.
Yeah, I’m with you Kerwin. I tend to think people either voted against the Republicans or didn’t vote period, because they were tired of giving the Republicans the chance to do something.
They have dominated the House and Senate now since the 90’s, and have managed to ignore their opportunity to undo a lot of the damage that the Democrat ran government of the last half of the last century did.
They have angered their base with their refusal to listen to the people on illegal immigration.
They have also angered a lot of their base who recognize that when it comes to bigger government, the Democrats aren’t the only party who seeks this.
They wooed the Conservative vote, and then ignored Conservative values once they were elected.
The Republicans never stood up to the whining Democrats. They allowed the Democrats to drag out each and every one of Bush’s Supreme Court nominations via “filibusters” that didn’t follow protocol. If the Republicans had had any balls, they would have told the Democrats, if you want to filibuster, then fine. But, there aren’t any off hours in this. You stay and keep filibustering until you pass out, they way it supposed to be done.
For all their failure to stand up to the Democrats on this and every other whining tactic they tried, they lost the respect of their base, and lost the election.
I’m not surprised at the Democrat’s “cut and run” strategy. The only wars they approve of are the ones that they drag us into (Viet Nam) and then they tend to drag those on and on and lose them, resulting in getting alot of our troops killed, for nothing, because of their bureaucratic hand tying of the troops.
Unfortunately, the people got what they voted for, (or got the Democrats via non-voting). God help us. God help the world!
I’m sure Bin Laden will be smiling while the Democrats prove his statement prior to 9/11 that America was nothing but a paper tiger who would shrink away at the first signs of resistance.
Gone are days of Harry S. Truman in the Democrat party. He has been replaced by a bunch of weak kneed, shifty politicians/hippies.
Like I said. God help us.
They still have some Harry S. Truman types but they seem to be in the minority and even they are too culturally liberal.