Post #56

Subject: An interview with TheDaF

WHO ARE YOU? Nobody important. I have no training or experience to deal with this – politics in general ranks #3 or #4 on my list of interests, and the Iraq War is the #1 political issue of our time. I’m just an ordinary Joe with internet access. I’d be delighted to be read around Washington, but, if nobody reads, that’s OK, too. I just felt I had to do something, ya know….

WHAT ARE YOUR POLITIICS? I’m a liberal with conservative leanings. Or a conservative with liberal leanings. I am a libertarian who believes in the New Deal. I’m a Constitutionalist who believes the Constitution is living document. I pick and choose which principles to follow – unless of course realism dictates I abandon all principles. I am a unique American – just like everybody else! ;p

CAN YOU SUM UP THE IRAQ WAR? We are involved in the decisive ideological struggle of our time. As I said in Post #25, “The War on Terror is a race against time – we need to convince those who want to do us harm that there is a better way BEFORE they do us harm. We need to be smarter.” The Iraq War is NOT the War on Terror – indeed, The Iraq War is a drain on and a diversion from the War on Terror and making us less secure. We should leave immediately.

BUT WAIT – WON’T AN IMMEDIATE WITHDRAWAL LEAVE A BAD SITUATION IN IRAQ? Yes, from my Post #52, quoting George W. Bush, “The consequences of failure are clear: Radical Islamic extremists would grow in strength and gain new recruits. They would be in a better position to topple moderate governments, create chaos in the region, and use oil revenues to fund their ambitions. Iran would be emboldened in its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Our enemies would have a safe haven from which to plan and launch attacks on the American people.” Actually, I see worse things. But the Iraq War has already created that situation – another day in Iraq will only make things worse as we continue to bleed, making the War on Terror longer and harder.

The Iraq War itself is giving aid and comfort to the enemy – we are losing the ability to respond militarily to other threats. Bring our troops home, rest ‘em, resupply ‘em and send ‘em out to hunt down and destroy terrorist training camps and to topple governments that harbor ‘em. As Republican Senator Gordon Smith said in my Post #45, “… we have an ongoing interest in prosecuting the war on terror, a fight from which we can retreat only at the peril of our own nation. … That is our fight, and ultimately, that is a very important fight for our country for our sake….”

The important thing now is to manage the aftermath of the greatest blunder in our history – that’s why I was impressed with Hillary’s announcement to enter the race for ’08. She seemed to understand the stakes.