The war in Iraq is not getting any better. Don't let Republicans convince you otherwise. Oil production continues to lag behind prewar levels. Electricity and running water are similarly down to levels before the invasion started. 5000 Iraqis have died since the start of 2006. And today, two American soldiers, aged 23 and 25, were found dead today after signs that they were brutally tortured.
Look at the pictures of these two brave young men at the right. They were 23 and 25 years old. Not much older than most of us. For those Democrats that say that we can't leave Iraq, that it will go to chaos if we leave, why can't those same Democrats realize that young Americans who should be starting careers, getting married, going to college, having kids, and having fun, are instead dying horrible and bloody deaths. For what!? There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. There was no connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda. We were lied to by the President of the United States, who has weakend our country, created more terrorists, gotten us bogged down in Iraq and has led to the deaths of two thousand five hundred and four American soldiers, sailors, coastguardsmen, marines, and airmen. This war is senseless, it is endless, our policy is destroying Iraq, our country's image around the world, and our nation's spirit. It is time to support our troops, and bring them home. We need to support Democrats who support strategic redeployment and nothing less.
The Republicans today rejected a resolution to create an independent commission like the kind that Harry Truman led during World War II to root our corruption in military contracting. Republicans are also planning to reject a non-binding Democratic resolution that calls on the President to begin to withdraw some troops by the end of this year. While I won't even criticize the unbelievable timidity of the Democrats, who won't support Sens. Kerry's, Feingold's, and Boxer's amendment to withdraw all combat troops by the middle of 2007 (which itself is too long to wait), the Republicans are truly sickening. The idea that our young men and women should spend one more day in the hell that is Iraq is unbelievable. Our country should only risk the lives of our soldiers if there is a noble goal. Iraq is not a noble war, and it is time to leave. I urge all of you to call your Senators and tell them to support an immediate end to the war. And I, for one, will not support any presidential candidate who does not, by the 2006 elections, come to the conclusion that this war must end immediately. Beware to those Democrats running for President who support this war's continuation!
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Tuesday, June 20, 2006
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1 comments:
"For those Democrats that say that we can't leave Iraq, that it will go to chaos if we leave, why can't those same Democrats realize that young Americans who should be starting careers, getting married, going to college, having kids, and having fun, are instead dying horrible and bloody deaths."
The two aren't mutually exclusive. Both are true, and I'm pretty sure most Democrats realize it. People are dying senseless deaths for a war that was, at best, questionable on our part. At the same time, I think most people realize that if we were to pack up and leave tomorrow, the country would probably explode (of course, it might just explode anyway). Going there may not have been the best move, but leaving right now could cause anything from massive civil war to a second terrorist-sponsoring thoeocracy side-by-side with Iran. Either option is pretty bad for America.
Of course, what we're doing right now is equally stupid: staying with no plans for how we'll ever leave aside from vague "once the Iraqis are ready to take over." I'm for strategic redployment, but you seem to be using it as a synonym for "this war must end immediately." That's not strategic redeployment; it's ending the war immediately.
The actual strategic plan, written for CAP by Lawrence Korb and Brian Katulis in September 2005, called for 80,000 troops (out of 140,000) out of Iraq by the end of 2006. Of course, this plan wasn't implemented, so the timetable has to be pushed back nine months if it were put in effect today in order to accomplish the same ends. It's a good plan, even if there's no perfect answer to the mess the Republicans have gotten us into in Iraq.
We need to end the war, but there's a smart way to do it. Unless we want a national security catastrophe, we can't pull all our forces out tomorrow. Looking at the polls, though, it's easy to see that progressive, moderate, and even some right-of-center Americans would support a real strategic redeployment plan that ensures Iraq won't collapse and saves the lives of our troops.
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