That's what I think, anyway. Democrats should insist on funding the thrilling conclusion of Our Mideast Adventure on the books, and begin investigating previous spending. But if one-time president George W. Bush wants to keep playing the "not leaving til we complete the mission" idiocy then let him do so, after make him define what it is.
Honestly, the only thing left now that will save Iraqi lives is to getting them out of Iraq. That being beyond our ability, and considering the Bush administration's performance this week in tossing aside even the moderate reality-facing/substantial ass-covering of the ISG, it is time to acknowledge that when it comes to saving American lives a complete and utter repudiation of the still-active neo-neocon approach is essential, or we'll be losing them indefinitely. A party which is still beholden to the 24% (and, incredibly, still dwindling) of the public which refuses to accept reality even after being slammed in the face repeatedly is a party which has not learned its lesson. We have nothing left to sustain our Iraq plan with, assuming there was one. The public--which dozed through things turning bad, then irrevocably bad, signed several blank checks, and was still swayed enough by arguments that Democrats "didn't have a plan", or Republicans "were tougher on defense" to relect a goddam chimpanzee--deserves multiple lessons. The public which does not yet understand that we do not possess a standing army of limitless strength, and which is so clueless about the sustained manpower and matériel drain that last year the public debate was at least partly turned on the idea of John Murtha as a lilly-livered appeaser, has to be shown without chance of contradiction. No better way to do so than to leave Bush playing toy soldier, and leave him holding the bag. Better the continued loss of life which we can at least try to minimize than to wind up with John McCain dreaming up more new sure-fire primary-winning adventures this time next year.
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Honestly, the only thing left now that will save Iraqi lives is to getting them out of Iraq.
That is, in fact, the most honest assessment I've seen of the whole mess. I'm not proud of my country right now, or at least of my country's electorate.
The U.S. Naval Institute has a magazine, Proceedings, that prints articles by (among others) officers from the Navy and Marine Corps. They grapple with serious issues of national security, in an atmosphere devoid of cant and politicised drivel: servicemen live and die on the conclusions hammered out in such fora, and the authors engage reality as it exists on the ground - or sea, as the case may be.
On the subject of Iraq, the contributors are unanimous: GET THE BOYS OUT!
As they explain, we can disengage from a no-win situation and redeploy to any of a number of win-win situations. Such will take a bit of care, but we have experts in uniform who can guide us through the process.
Let us give them their voice.
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