Our Troops Must Stay
Our Troops Must Stay
America can't abandon 27 million Iraqis to 10,000 terrorists.
by Senator Joe Lieberman
The Wall Street Journal
November 29, 2005
...These are new ideas that are working and changing the reality on the ground, which is undoubtedly why the Iraqi people are optimistic about their future--and why the American people should be, too....
I'm posting this because it seams only one side of the debate gets any airtime. I also happen to agree with the Senator.
posted by Randy @ 11/30/2005 08:51:00 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Randy, nice to see you posting again!
You'll get no disagreement from me -- the troops need to stay for some amount of time, without a doubt. But what's not being said is that the Administration also owes us, itself, and the Iraqis a coherent timeline and strategy for withdrawal. And to say a timeline for withdrawal will embolden the terrorists is straight bunk. We all know American troops have to leave Iraq at some point in time. It is high time the Administration articulated a coherent timeline and strategy for disengagement.
Glad to see the timid souls on the Right are rejoining the discussion. :) Well done Randy!
Substantively, there is a lot right about what Lieberman, and Randy, is saying. We cannot just pull up stakes right now. Progress is being made, however slowly.
However, I suspect the current wave of reaction is to the utter lack of information on the "Iraq Plan" that Lieberman has brought up and partially discussed. I think that most people, apparently both in the U.S. and Iraq judging by calls for a withdrawal timetable from leaders in both countries, aren't unwilling to keep soliders in Iraq if necessary, but are no longer are willing to give the Bush Administration a "blank time check". They no longer accept the Administration's information embargo on the subject of Iraq. Especially with the Iraqis becoming as a group - Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds - convinced that they can take care of themselves at the end of a year-long withdrawal timetable. And, no, the odd staged press conference or photo op tour will not do when thousands of American's valuable young fighting men are being killed.
Its been three years. That is not a particularly long time by historical standards. However, until now we've received little or no indication of what has been going on besides the killing, whether there is a plan (you'd think we could assume that, but the Bush Administration's track record vis a vis Iraq and "having a plan" does not allow for it), or what that plan is and how its going. Also, frankly, recent events have convinced a majority of Americans that the Bush Administration and its political allies are no longer trustworthy enough to be allowed to say "Just trust us, and we'll do what's right."
So the American people want to know what is going on. One might think of it as telling your investment adviser that if she does not explain why your account keeps losing money year after year, you're going to pull your money. She might be able to explain why it has happened (remember the tech and telecom busts?) in a satisfactory manner, and you may leave your money with her. But no information, means you're pulling out.
So, I think the ball is in the Bush Administration's court. If they provide the information that is needed, provide a plan, even perhaps a time-table or some form of progress benchmark for turning over security to Iraqis, then the American people will stand behind them. If they just say "Trust us" and continue to stonewall while Americans die, they will have problems, and such intransigence might precipitate the undesired result, premature pull-out, even MORE quickly.
The Admin has seemed afraid of giving out information on any subject, especially Iraq, for fear that information brings criticism. Their aversion to any criticism, and their tactics for going after those who do criticize them, need to be eliminated, and they need to recognize that a representative democracy is based on free individuals using available information to make sovereign decisions. Mr. Bush, you don't run America for you, you run it for us. Tear down that wall of secrecy!
Besides, if 2004 told us anything, its that the American people won't abandon you just for making a bunch of mistakes.
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