Voice of the Left: Iraq: Where Do We Go From Here?
Glenn Swift
December 18, 2006
I know I shouldn’t be shocked ... but I still am.
For six years our president has shunned the advice of nearly everyone outside his immediate entourage. He has shown complete disregard for the sentiments of the American people on many a key issue. But nowhere has the president’s hard-headedness had more tragic consequences than with the war in Iraq. Nowadays all but the most diehard Bushites agree that the current course is getting us nowhere; nearly everyone that is except George Bush.
Recently, the Congressionally-authorized bipartisan Iraq Study Group, led by former Secretary of State James Baker III and former Congressman and Director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Lee Hamilton, concluded an exhaustive forward-looking study of the disastrous war in Iraq. The Group’s conclusions were clear; we are not winning and need to begin withdrawing all US combat units from Iraq by early 2008.
So…what is the reaction of our president?
You guessed it! To do the absolute opposite. That’s right. Less than thirty days after General Abasaid testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that no additional troops were needed and that all senior commanders in the field supported this view, escalation is now the order of the day. We shouldn’t be surprised. After all, the president’s been so right about everything so far with regard to this war. Right?
If this wasn’t so tragic, we could laugh. But this is anything but funny. Despite 28,000 American casualties (military and civilian), our president plans to place even more of our brave young boys as targets before our ruthless enemies.
Americans must stand up to this outrageous and despicable decision.
Not only is the escalation of the Iraqi war senseless and shameful, the push for more ground troops comes as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have sharply decreased the readiness of Army and Marine Corps units rotating back to the United States. According to numerous sources within our own military, this has seriously compromised the ability of U.S. ground forces to respond to other potential conflicts around the world. In other words, besides continuing to foment radical Islam in the region, the US occupation of Iraq is jeopardizing our own national security.
The time for rhetoric has long since past. Just as we had to do a generation ago, the Left must lead us out of this senseless conflict. For over three and a half years, George Bush has refused to listen to anything with regard to the direction of the war. We were assured over and over again that we were winning, that the media was giving us a distorted view of the situation, and that “the insurgency was in its last throws.” Well…The truth is now clear for all to see. Because of countless mistakes in strategy on the part of our military and political leadership, and the complete unwillingness of the so-called Iraqi government to take serious measures to quell the violence, Iraq is hopelessly out of control. To put it succinctly, there is no American/British military solution other than to get out. Our boys have done their share to remove a ruthless dictator from power. It is now up to the Iraqi people to solve their own problems.
America has made enough of a sacrifice.
For six years our president has shunned the advice of nearly everyone outside his immediate entourage. He has shown complete disregard for the sentiments of the American people on many a key issue. But nowhere has the president’s hard-headedness had more tragic consequences than with the war in Iraq. Nowadays all but the most diehard Bushites agree that the current course is getting us nowhere; nearly everyone that is except George Bush.
Recently, the Congressionally-authorized bipartisan Iraq Study Group, led by former Secretary of State James Baker III and former Congressman and Director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Lee Hamilton, concluded an exhaustive forward-looking study of the disastrous war in Iraq. The Group’s conclusions were clear; we are not winning and need to begin withdrawing all US combat units from Iraq by early 2008.
So…what is the reaction of our president?
You guessed it! To do the absolute opposite. That’s right. Less than thirty days after General Abasaid testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that no additional troops were needed and that all senior commanders in the field supported this view, escalation is now the order of the day. We shouldn’t be surprised. After all, the president’s been so right about everything so far with regard to this war. Right?
If this wasn’t so tragic, we could laugh. But this is anything but funny. Despite 28,000 American casualties (military and civilian), our president plans to place even more of our brave young boys as targets before our ruthless enemies.
Americans must stand up to this outrageous and despicable decision.
Not only is the escalation of the Iraqi war senseless and shameful, the push for more ground troops comes as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have sharply decreased the readiness of Army and Marine Corps units rotating back to the United States. According to numerous sources within our own military, this has seriously compromised the ability of U.S. ground forces to respond to other potential conflicts around the world. In other words, besides continuing to foment radical Islam in the region, the US occupation of Iraq is jeopardizing our own national security.
The time for rhetoric has long since past. Just as we had to do a generation ago, the Left must lead us out of this senseless conflict. For over three and a half years, George Bush has refused to listen to anything with regard to the direction of the war. We were assured over and over again that we were winning, that the media was giving us a distorted view of the situation, and that “the insurgency was in its last throws.” Well…The truth is now clear for all to see. Because of countless mistakes in strategy on the part of our military and political leadership, and the complete unwillingness of the so-called Iraqi government to take serious measures to quell the violence, Iraq is hopelessly out of control. To put it succinctly, there is no American/British military solution other than to get out. Our boys have done their share to remove a ruthless dictator from power. It is now up to the Iraqi people to solve their own problems.
America has made enough of a sacrifice.
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