the answer my friend
is blowin’ in the wind
the answer is blowin’ in the wind…
TPM has an excellent post by Matthew Yglesias. He points out the obvious. Bush claims today that our leaving Iraq would be a disaster:
If America were to pull out before Iraq can defend itself, the consequences would be absolutely predictable — and absolutely disastrous. We would be handing Iraq over to our worst enemies — Saddam’s former henchmen, armed groups with ties to Iran, and al Qaeda terrorists from all over the world who would suddenly have a base of operations far more valuable than Afghanistan under the Taliban.
Yglesias makes the point that it has been three years since Bush announced "Mission Accomplished." There has been no change in things is that three years. The Shiite/Shia Civil War rages on. The "government" can’t seem to find itself. The suicide bombers keep coming. Our casuality rate is disturbingly constant. Reports that the "Iraqi Troops aren’t ready" are unchanged. It’s a stalemate.
You also know what it takes to win. For all that is new about this war, one thing has not changed: Victory still depends on the courage and the patience and the resolve of the American people. Above all, it depends on patriots who are willing to fight for freedom. Our nation is blessed to have these men and women in abundance.
The patience comment is really insulting, coming as it does from "Mr. Impetuous" who had us marching into an ill-conceived war without taking the time to carefully evaluate the prewar intelligence. But it’s that last line that’s really offensive. What he purports to mean is that we have a lot of patriotic young people. But what’s so painful to hear is that he seems to think that since we have this abundance of patriotic young people, it’s okay to sacrifice them by leaving them in a dangerous situation like Iraq, with no plan [or hope] of resolution, dying at an alarmingly regular rate. The Terrorists sacrifice their youth as suicide bombers. We sacrifice ours by leaving them in the breach because he has some notion that we can "win" this war. He says, "You also know what it takes to win." I’m glad he thinks they all know how to win. He sure doesn’t. He can’t even say what "win" would mean, much less articulate how one would get there. Three years has given us ample empirical evidence that "patience" isn’t the answer. There is little rebuilding. There isn’t much of a government. The life of the people isn’t so hot. And a lot of people are still dying in the process.
What he’s saying is crazy. Just plain crazy. None of us know exactly how to deal with this mess. But the one thing we know for sure is that the Bush Administration knows the least.
soldiers killed to date = 2639
soldiers killed per day [average] = 2.28
days left in Bush Administration = 796
796×2.28 = 1815
2639+1815 = 4454
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