1 Boring Old Man

I’m watching the Senate session on cspan where the Democrats are pulling an all-nighter in an attempt to force a vote on the amendment to set a timetable for Iraq withdrawal. The ever articulate Dianne Feinstein just argued that waiting until September to evaluate the "surge" is absurd. Her argument was based on the fact that the suirge is already a failure, that more will die, that more will be maimed, that there will be more Iraqi losses, etc. Now Lamar Alexander is waxing eloquent [and sarcastic] on the Democrat’s "stunt" of keeping the Senate debating all night.

As long as they’re going to go on and on, I thought I’d weigh in. The debate seems absurd to me – debating about the so-called "surge." The surge is something Bush made up in response to the Iraq Study Group’s recommendations that we withdraw. Remember? It was around the holidays. The Iraq Study Group proposed several exit strategies. Bush claimed he was going into contemplation – then announced this surge scheme of his, saying we’d re-evaluate in September. Within weeks, he begin to backpedal about the September deadline. Later, he talked about a long term presence in Iraq. The surge was just a delaying tactic – trying to get their oil agreement signed before we had to draw down our troops. It has all been malarky – all of it.

• Bush and his Administration came to office and ignored al Qaeda, in spite of adequate warnings.
• Bush and his Administration came to office dead set on "regime change" in Iraq – naively assuming that if they got rid of Hussein, we could access the oil stores in Iraq – what I call in my mind "The Cheney Plan."
• Bush and his Administration used the 911 attack by al Qaeda to justify the war in Iraq claiming that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and ties with al Qaeda – claims they still make whenever possible. Both of these things are untrue.
• We invaded Iraq killing and capturing its leaders, banning them from government.
• Our invasion force was adequate to defeat Saddam but inadequate to quell the Sectarian violence.
• None of us think that the U.S. invasion of Iraq was to liberate the Iraqi people.

So, we shouldn’t have gone to war in the first place – not with Iraq. But, having done it, we should not have disenfranchised the Bathists. And we should have sent a massive army – drafting if necessary – to control the violence. It’s absurd for us to talk about what will happen if we leave. First, that’s not something we can control. Second, it’s none of our business. Third, we shouldn’t have gone in the first place and there’s nothing that we can ever do to undo that mistake. So, forget the surge is my conclusion. Come home because we’ve proven already that the Bush Doctrine is a failure, and we can’t make a silk purse out of this sow’s ear. At least have the integrity to say, "We blew it."