Democrats have finally come together on Iraq, issuing a joint statement signed by 12 leaders (including Pelosi, Reid, and Murtha) calling for commencement of troop withdrawal by the end of the year.
Hallelujah and glory be. They’re finally enunciating what Americans already know to be true: “Over 2,500 Americans have made the ultimate sacrifice and over 18,000 others have been wounded,” the statement said. “The Iraq war has also strained our military and constrained our ability to deal with other challenges.” Bush’s “open-ended commitment” to Iraq should be abandoned, the statement said, in the interest of “American national security, our troops, and our taxpayers” who have paid $300 billion in three years and are paying $3 billion a week now.
The Republican response was the typical “cut and run” drivel, as they continue to stick their heads in the sand and ignore the reality of the greatest foreign policy catastrophe in a generation that Bush has inflicted on this country.
We have been in Iraq for three years, losing our friends and family members to a war without purpose. We have held fast for those three years and tried to make the best of a grave mistake. We have allowed the Treasury to be bled dry, with hundreds of billions of dollars spent against future generations that could have been used to greatly improve America’s own future at home. We have CREATED terrorism instead of stopping it by giving great cause for the rest of the world to detest us. We have been crippled in our ability to respond to real threats to America like Iran and North Korea. America’s experiment in imposing democracy in a manner that was not wanted has been a complete failure. Here we are, three years later, and we are WORSE off by far than we were before.
What the Democrats propose is not “cut and run.” It’s called “cutting your losses short.”
It’s time for the Iraqis to realize that we are getting ready to leave and will not be able to use our military presence as a crutch anymore. They need to understand that if they’re serious about not having a bloodbath on their hands they better get their act together quickly on government and civil order. Iraq is comprised of people who absolutely hate each other and who apparently require a brutal regime to keep them living together in some semblance of harmony. There may simply be no way to keep a united Iraq in a democracy, and leaders on all sides need to put all options on the table for a quick resolution. America’s presence there has facilitated postponement of these difficult issues as Iraqis engage in endless debate while they kill each other and destroy each others’ mosques. Iraqis clearly have no respect for America’s puppet government in Baghdad, so let them determine their own fate in a manner of their choice.
It’s time to stop imposing our view of the world on people who do not want it..and it’s about damn time we brought our troops home and out of harm’s way.
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