What distresses me just as much as the war in Iraq are the many people out there who think that by making this war illegal and impeaching the President we are doing a service to the Iraqi’s or the thousands of U.S. and foreign troops that are abroad.
Folks, as of this point, from a policy and humanitarian standpoint it does not matter if the war was legal, if there were WMD’s, or whether or not the information the Bush administration had was altered to make the case for war more appealing. Certainly, these are important issues and they must be dealt with; but that is for another time. Impeaching the President now will not stop a bomb from ripping through a marketplace. Litigating whether the war was legal or not will not stop the kidnappings and mass executions of people from differing religious sects. Calling the President a liar in public is not going to help bring peace to this struggling nation.
What is most important right now is that we continue to debate the issues that will help Iraq to help itself. In my opinion, setting a blind pull out date is not helping the situation. Democratic presidential candidate Mike Gravel recently said:
“In the face of a President oblivious to human suffering and death, the voting public is the only power that can stop the war. The Congress can and must energize this citizen’s power. Timidity, compromise, comity and politics as usual are not viable alternatives to LEADERSHIP when Americans and Iraqis are dying every day.”
By saying this, Senator Gravel has shown that he is oblivious to human suffering and death as well. Bringing the troops home by Christmas is not necessarily going to lead to stability and compromise in the Iraqi capital. It is bad enough to engage in a war without knowing the consequences or without knowing how to properly deal with the consequences. I would make the case that it is equally as bad to leave a country in a state of disrepair without fully knowing the consequences. The Senator, as with many other politicians and presidential candidates, are playing politics with this issue, all the while criticizing the President for doing the same thing. Sure, everyone wants to be out of there as soon as possible, that is not the issue; but is doing it right now – regardless of what might happen after the fact – what is best for that country? Is creating a power vaccum in Iraq going to stablize it politically? It’s not very likely.
What needs to take place right now is a vigorous debate on what policy will best help the situation in Iraq. I think if Congress were to look at the information and listen to the people who have specific knowledge about the situation, they would understand pulling out forces as soon as possible is not going to prevent a bomb from murdering thousands of civilians in a peaceful cafe.
The time for reprimanding this administration will come, but while there are still civilians and troops winding up dead and in the hospital, our first task must be to figure out how to fix that and keep more people alive.
May 15, 2007 at 8:13 am
All administrations should be able to stand the test of criticism. Going after Bush is in some ways appropriate. It is to my thinking what keeps most Presidents and government officials on their toes and keen to do the right thing.
Bush acted with the support of over 70 percent of Congress, 76 percent of the US citizens and a 15-0 vote in the UN. Not to mention many, many other resolutions passed on Iraq.
Going into Iraq was the right thing to do. Or perhaps it was not the right thing to do. That has always been the question. The left/antiwar have just tried to find reasons to rally support against the war.
They have succeeded because in my opinion they have LIED. They have done the thing they claim they hate the most of Bush……….LIE.
But thru it all, no matter which side of the equation of the war your sympathies lie, the President, this or any future president must be open, honest and forthcoming. This president just did not comprehend the power of the Blog/internet until it was too late.
All future presidents will be under such scrutiny that I fear they will be paralyzed with inaction for fear of someone finding out that their socks have gold on the toes and were a gift.
May 15, 2007 at 3:57 pm
I think the true problem lies in the preparation and start of the war, and not the ongoing conflict or the conclusion. This war is a lose/lose situation either way because it was not established correctly.
Before the Iraq war started, military experts were questioned on what the armed forces would need in the way of resources.
The military was given a quarter of what they demanded. I agree that this may not be the time to reprimand the government for running in blind, but in order to finish strong, you must start strong.
We were weakened right from the starter’s pistol.
May 15, 2007 at 5:38 pm
Thanks for the comments guys.
While I do agree that the anti-war left has stretched the truth on more than one issue, the fact is there is too much there that the Bush administration has muffed. While I am not of the rampant blogging community that seeths and wishes for Bush’s demise at all costs, I cannot help but hope that the President and his staff come to their senses and realize we might have to take a different course.
With that said, you cannot say that we fumbled it right from the start. The ease with which allied forces marched to Baghdad proves that. Where the mission started going awry was in its handling of the post-Saddam era. The money and intelligence was sufficient during the invasion period; however, that same cannot be said of the occupation period.
While it’s too late for intelligence, do we give more money? Pull out right now? Split the country up into three seperate states? Build walls to divide sects?
Keep the comments coming,
Kent
May 15, 2007 at 10:27 pm
My take -
This is coming from someone who leans towards the left on most issues. The Iraq war was handled poorly. Am I happy that Saddam is out of power? of course. Do I want to see the United States succeed and prosper? of course. What I have a problem with is Republicans (Bush and staff) vowing to veto any spending bill with any sort of timetable in it. America voted in the Dems because they wanted a change. If it is the presidents goal to serve the will of the people he should recognize that change.
I am pissed about the lies and deceit on both sides, but more so by the President. This is the president of the United States and he has led us into a war we cant get out of, based on shoddy reasoning and doctored eveidence. 2 examples, Bush and Co. claimed invading Iraq was essential to the war on terror. This is false Al-Quida was not present in Iraq before we took over. Al-Quida was much more prominent in Saudi Arabia, who also is run by a cruel dictator. But why dont we invade them? Economic ties to the United States. The other issue is the much discussed WMDs. In fact now Al-Quida is in Iraq and working on getting chemical weapons from Iraq. So I guess Bush did get it right, the only problem is the war caused these problems it didnt fix them.
Should there be a punishment for sending us to war for wrong reasons? I think its idiotic to say we cant challenge the war, because we are in war. This is a very circluar argument. Another huge misconception is that people from the left dont support the troops. I have nothing but the ut most respect for the troops, and if I was one I would be pissed at the situation I was placed in.
There are no easy answers, but I think it is clear that something different needs to happen and a compromise needs to be made
Camo
May 16, 2007 at 7:42 am
The left is confusing the vote of 06 to mean we want to embrace the Lefts Social agenda and that is not true at all. The change voted for was a change with a do nothing congress and a do nothing president who was absorbed with one thing.
The War on terror. The country said lets move on. The president says “Damn people, you said go to war and then left me holding the ball. Well sorry but their is more at stake here then your social agenda.”
For what I really think.
http://lthomas.wordpress.com/
May 20, 2007 at 10:40 pm
Kent, I completely agree here. We simply have to act realistically. My personal opinion is that we listen to our generals, people in the field, and perhaps most importantly, the Iraqi people.
Our policy towards the Middle East, in general, is somewhat messed up. For instance, I have become very disturbed with our relationship with Israel.
As crazy as it sounds, I cite the relationship with Israel as the reason for most of these issues. This is certainly a topic worthy of further depth, so I’ll wait until you post an article about it!
Joe