April 4, 2006
So John Kerry has finally got the "Out Now" religion...sort of. In an op-ed in The New York Times,
he proposes setting two deadlines for withdrawing from Iraq -- May 15,
if the Iraqis don't form a new government, and the end of the year if
they do. It's good that he's doing that, I suppose, since it reflects
the reality of the situation on the ground, both in Iraq and also in
the United States. But it's really a pathetic statement. Let's start
with his basic premise: "Half of the service members listed on the
Vietnam Memorial Wall died after America's leaders knew our strategy
would not work. It was immoral then and it would be immoral now to
engage in the same delusion." But what is "immoral" is not having a bad
"strategy," it's having done something "bad" (illegal, immoral) to
begin with - a "mistake" in the language Kerry famously used back in 1971 (ignoring for the moment that neither the war against Vietnam nor the invasion of Iraq were "mistakes" but quite deliberate and intentional).
It's critical to remember that although Kerry now says our "strategy isn't working," he has actually refused in the past to describe the invasion of Iraq as a mistake: "Asked
Friday if he would face that question about the Iraq war as president,
Kerry said: 'I never said it was a mistake now. What I said is the way
the president chose to go to war was a mistake.'
"Seated aboard
his campaign bus in a captain's chair, Kerry said he didn't consider
the war in Iraq a mistake, but that President Bush had misled Americans
and the world by waging the war hastily and not 'as a last resort.'" Now,
he talks about how "our valiant soldiers can't bring democracy to Iraq
if Iraq's leaders are unwilling themselves to make the compromises that
democracy requires," as if "valiant soldiers" can ever "bring
democracy" anywhere, even if they had the legal right to do so. To put
this in perspective, let's go back to see what I wrote about what he
was saying in April, 2004:The latest from the "presumptive Democratic nominee":"While
we may have differed on how we went to war, Americans of all political
persuasions are united in our determination to succeed. The extremists
attacking our forces should know they will not succeed in dividing
America, or in sapping American resolve, or in forcing the premature
withdrawal of U.S. troops. Our country is committed to help the Iraqis
build a stable, peaceful and pluralistic society. No matter who is
elected president in November, we will persevere in that mission." To
begin with, a bit of history. Americans didn't differ on "how" we went
to war - Republicans and Democrats in Congress and the White House
differed on that. Americans, as well as millions of French, Spanish, Italians, British, and people all around the world, differed on going to war. Millions of us were opposed to this war, we didn't just "differ on how we went to war." So let's keep that straight.
Next,
let's consider that word "extremists." Apparently Mr. Kerry thinks that
attacking foreign troops who are occupying your country is an "extreme"
thing to do. Lucky thing for us Americans he and his kind weren't
around in 1775, denouncing Paul Revere and Patrick Henry and George
Washington as "extremists."
Now what are these "extremists"
up to? According to Kerry, they are bent on "dividing America,"
"sapping American resolve," and "forcing the premature withdrawal of
U.S. troops." Well isn't that just like an arrogant American - "it's
all about us." No, John, the insurgents in Iraqi just want one thing -
U.S. troops out of their country. And there will be nothing "premature"
about it, since the penetration should never have occured in the first
place.
Kerry, like Bush and the vast majority of Democratic
and Republican politicians, want to convince us that we have to "stay
the course," we have to "succeed," we have to "win." Apparently they've
never heard about "throwing good money after bad" or "two wrongs don't
make a right." We can't correct a mistake by continuing to make the
same mistake! We can't make up for the deaths of 750+ coalition troops,
50-100 coalition "contractors," and 10-20,000 Iraqi civilians and
soldiers by continuing a policy which will result in the death of more Americans, more Iraqis, and others. Iraq is not "ours" to "win."
Arrogant
Americans like Kerry (and Bush, of course) think that it is up to the
American people to decide who runs Iraq, or Venezuela, or Haiti, or
Cuba, and to tell the people of those countries what kind of political
and economic system they should follow. It is not. It is up to the people of those countries - the Iraqis, the Venezuelans, the Haitians, the Cubans, etc. to determine their own future. The U.S. should get the hell out of Iraq. Now. Before they do more damage and kill more people. "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"
- John Kerry, 1971. Ancient history according to Kerry. "No longer operative." Now let's return to the present to look at what Kerry is saying now. Here's one telling quote:For
three years now, the administration has told us that terrible things
will happen if we get tough with the Iraqis. In fact, terrible things
are happening now because we haven't gotten tough enough. No, John, "terrible things are happening now" because the U.S. and its allies invaded Iraq and overthrew its government.
But what it's really all about it this: An exit from Iraq will also strengthen our hand in dealing with the Iranian nuclear threat. First of all, there is
no "Iranian nuclear threat." And "strengthening our hand in dealing
with it" by freeing up troops means one thing and one thing only --
make sure there are troops available for an invasion and occupation of
Iran, or at least to credibly threaten such an invasion and occupation.
Which I guess means that it means a second thing -- that John Kerry
hasn't learned any lessons, either from Vietnam or Iraq, because he's
ready to repeat the experiences (and spend the "human treasure") once
again in Iran.
Pathetic.
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