Post #94

Subject: Deluded or dishonorable?

Ah yes – that is the question. Once again, neo-cons are saying “The surge is working,” “The light is at the end of the tunnel,” “One more push” – pick your favorite Vietnam-era cliché. :p

http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/CharlesKrauthammer

… from “Washington vs. The Surge,” by Charles Krauthammer, Friday, July 13, 2007:

“WASHINGTON -- Finally, after four terribly long years, we know what works. Or what can work. A year ago, a confidential Marine intelligence report declared Anbar province (which comprises about a third of Iraq's territory) lost to al-Qaeda. Now, … the tribal sheiks have joined our side and committed large numbers of fighters that, in concert with American and Iraqi forces, have largely driven out al-Qaeda and turned its former stronghold of Ramadi into one of most secure cities in Iraq. … The tragedy is that, just as a working strategy has been found, some Republicans in the Senate have lost heart and want to pull the plug."

Um, some Republicans have not “lost heart” but realize that playing an endless game of “Whack-A-Mole” is not in America’s interests.

“… Anbar has unexpectedly shown that even without these constitutional settlements, the insurgency can be neutralized and al-Qaeda defeated at the local and provincial level with a new and robust counterinsurgency strategy. … The costs are heartbreakingly high -- increased American casualties as the enemy is engaged and spectacular suicide bombings designed to terrify Iraqis and demoralize Americans. … In the long run, agreements on oil, federalism and de-Baathification are crucial for stabilizing Iraq. But their absence at this moment is not a reason to give up in despair, now that we finally have a counterinsurgency strategy in place that is showing success against the one enemy that both critics and supporters of the war maintain must be fought everywhere and at all cost -- al Qaeda.”

Um, Al-Qaeda in Iraq is not “the one enemy that both critics and supporters of the war maintain must be fought everywhere and at all cost” – that is the Al Qaeda of Osama bin Laden. Frank Rich, columnist for The New York Times and author of The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina said on TV “The fact is that al Qaeda in Iraq has nothing to do with the al Qaeda that attacked us on 9/11. The connection between 9/11 and Iraq has always been false. That they continue to repeat it, that Cheney continues to make specific claims about collaborations between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, it‘s preposterous. And indeed, this al Qaeda [in Iraq] really threatens the Iraq government, or so-called government we‘ve set up, it‘s not going to follow us over here. That al Qaeda is in Pakistan and other places.”

Of course, the whole neo-con world view that George W. Bush continues to spew is lazy, shallow. From Bob Woodward’s State of Denial: “There is a deep feeling among some senior Bush administration officials that somehow we had not started the Iraq war. We had been attacked. Bin Laden, al-Qaeda, the other terrorists and anti-American forces – whether groups or countries or philosophies – could be lumped together. It was one war, the long war, the two-generation war… described after 9/11.”

To use the terms that Charles used in his column – ”Deluded or dishonorable” (which I used for this column, by the way) – it is deluded not to recognize the differences in our enemies. And it is dishonorable to continue to support what is so obviously a mistake just because you cannot admit you supported mistake. Why place your interests above America’s interests?