Cut and Run?

I am torn on the question of should our troops stay or get out of Iraq.

I was opposed to this war before it started, where it turns out, I showed much better insight to the situation than the President, for example: I felt there was no need to rush to war, Mr. Bush and his advisors did. It’s clear who was right on that one. Time has shown that there was no rush needed. I did not believe the intelligence about weapons of mass destruction was accurate or provided sufficient evidence to justify an invasion, the leader of the free world used his divinely inspired judgment coupled with access to the best intelligence available and fervently believed otherwise. Looks like I channeled that one slightly better than he did. I and many others pleaded with the President to do more planning for the peace prior to starting the war; he and his spokesmen patted us on our collective heads and told us that the peace would take care of itself. Once again, we were right and the administration was disastrously wrong.

It is really sad that with all the brains in the White House, a guy sitting alone at his computer can consistently out think them.

It is tragic that the President listened only to his own trumped up intelligence rather than listening to an intelligent point of view.

If the President did in fact lie about the reasons to go to war, it is an impeachable offence. However, the same Republicans that found no detail of President Clinton’s private life unworthy of scrutiny, openly refuse to investigate what may be the most grievous crime ever committed by any American President. There may be no crime here, but we will probably never know for sure because Republicans are letting their often touted higher morality and love of country and Constitution get trampled by party loyalty.

Recently we heard Vice President Cheney tell us that the Iraqi insurgency is in its last throws, an opinion the Pentagon officially disagrees with. Clearly the VP has not got a profound or even an accurate understanding of the situation.

One of the prime architects of the series of miscalculations leading to the death of over 1600 Americans, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, tells us with certainty that we cannot “cut and run” from Iraq. This is the same guy that told us with certainty that he knew exactly where the Iraqi WMD were located.

The second oil war is another testament to our Military; they won the war in spite of the politicians. It is the politicians, starting with the President and working its way down to a spineless Congress (that includes both sides of the isle - anyone who voted for the war), that are responsible for what is taking place in Iraq today. We are repeatedly fed the mantra by Mr. Bush and his administration that things are improving, while in total contradiction, the frequency of bombings and civilian deaths are increasing. Reality just does not match the administration’s rhetoric.

This administration has been wrong almost every step of the way concerning the war in Iraq. It is quite hard to envision their current position on the war as any more precise than their previous dismal examples of poor judgment and lack of insight. It is extremely hard to imagine the President learning from his mistakes, when he refuses to admit he has made any. Based only on the way the war has been conducted by the White House, it would be quite reasonable to conclude that it is, in fact, time to “cut and run”. Why should we let another American die for a problem created by a pair of elite politicians who refused to go to war themselves?

The President and his administration have been so wrong about so much, why not this?

Yet I am still torn on this issue because there is merit to the “you broke it, you fix it” correlation. Our nation, my nation, right or wrong, went to war with Iraq. We went to war unprepared and for the wrong reason, consequently Iraq has been morphed into a terrorist strong hold. Our military leaders have recently told us that there are now more terrorist training in Iraq than were ever training in Afghanistan. If we walk away the situation will undoubtedly grow worse. Therefore, morally and strategically we cannot leave until we fix the mess the President has created. This difficult conclusion is based on a strong belief that America must do the right thing. The right thing in this case is for America to help the Iraqi people dig themselves out of the abyss President Bush threw them into.

Of course the actual cleaning up and paying for the war will no doubt fall to the next President, and perhaps, the next generation. This is because the team currently in charge has demonstrated a protracted lack of foresight concerning the real situation in Iraq and for the first time in American history, in an act of total irresponsibility, lowered taxes during a time of war. Conservatives would rather let your children pay tomorrow for their security today.

Steve McGourty

26 June 05