Post #61

Subject: What is our mission?

I’m not trying to be a smart-ass – just a befuddled average American. But why are our troops being slaughtered in Iraq?

It seems that the Republican argument against even discussing our strategy in Iraq boils down to “A public debate will hurt morale and make it harder to accomplish our mission.” Well, the first part – “morale” – has no meaning. Will bad morale make a gun not shoot straight? But it is that second part – “mission” – which has my concern.

When we went into Iraq, our mission was #1 – to hunt down, capture and destroy WMD. Well, #1 was not necessary – as I believed, the first time we were wrong has limited our ability, both with domestic and international support, to launch other hunts which might even be more necessary. Can ya say Iran?

Indeed, George W. Bush: Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. I’m not buying your tales about Iran. If Iran is a threat, handle it – beating the drums in public is unseemly, politely-speaking.

When we went into Iraq, our mission was #1a – to remove Saddam from power. And #1a was accomplished -- we “got” Saddam. As I said in my Post #3, but didn’t that leave a hole that Al-Qaeda is filling? After all, the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know. But, at least, we are fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here. Of course, “over there” is the hills of Afghanistan. What are we doing in Irag?

In my Post #13, I quoted Bush, “We will defeat the terrorists and expand freedom across the world, we’ll protect the American homeland and work tirelessly to prevent attacks on our country,” he said. “The terrorists remain determined to destroy innocent life on a massive scale, and we must be equally determined to stop them.”

In last weeks press conference, Bush did not mention democracy – only that we were fighting extremists. Are they the terrorists who fly planes into buildings? From my Post #22, we cannot defeat our enemy if we do not know who the enemy is. I quote from the column “Islamo-fascism?” by Pat Buchanan, http://www.theamericancause.org/ , from September 1, 2006. “Al-Qaida appears to exist for one purpose: Plot and perpetrate mass murder to terrorize Americans and Europeans into getting out of the Islamic world. Contrary to what Bush believes, the 9/11 killers and London and Madrid bombers were not out to repeal the Bill of Rights, if any ever read it. They are out to kill us, and we have to get them first.” Bombing Iran, democracy blooming in Iraq or invading Syria will NOT stop planes from flying into buildings. Our enemy is in Afghanistan – the enemy who should be the focus of our military.

What is our mission?