I was listening to Morning Edition on the way in this morning, and in the headline news there was a story on two competing democratic proposals ("resolutions") in Congress calling for a troop pullout from Iraq. They're amemendments to a military spending bill. First of all, the bills are non-binding, and second, they'll never pass. So basically, they're being brought up for the purpose of scoring more Bush Bashing highlights.
The one Kerry and Feingold are backing calls for a firm date -- July 1 of next year. Democrats opposed to setting a date have introduced another bill that calls for a phased withdrawal starting this year and a demand for the President to submit a plan for withdrawal by years end.
Jack Reid spouts on about a "phased redeployment" starting this year (see, that's not withdrawal, that's sending soldiers in Iraq somewhere besides Iraq. But it's not withdrawal) and about forcing the president to do the right thing. This of course means withdrawal. Reid talks about leaving Iraq with as much success as possible (victory is not possible) and about a "strategy for success". Which is starting to sound like Kerry's "I have a plan".
Levin, the second bill's sponsor, says that Bush "has not said that we do not have an open-ended committment in Iraq. The President has not said tat there will be further reductions, and redeployments of troops this year". He says the proposal is trying to get the president to say both.
It seems to me that to the Democrats, a "strategy for success" means "a strategy for leaving". Bush and the Republicans "Strategy for Success" is to defeat the enemy. At that point, we can start a strategy for "redeployment", or -- sorry, you're not fooling anyone, Democrats -- withdrawal.
If success = leaving, then of course, why not get on with it? But if success = a stable, democratic Iraq, then a strategy for success cannot include a plan for withdrawal. When I go in to fix the furnace, my strategy is to keep at it until the furnace is fixed. I don't need to tell my wife that I have a "strategy for success" and a "plan for withdrawal". She assumes success means the furnace is fixed, and she also assumes that when the furnace is fixed, I will withdraw from the furnace room without declaring a plan to do so.
But the democrats want to know "Where is the plan to get out of Iraq?"
Well here it is. When we and the Iraqis agree that they don't need us anymore to control the Islamist and Ba'athist "resistance", we'll send some boats and planes and our guys will get on them and they'll head home. See?
In the mean time, the strategy for success is to root out and kill the enemy, cut them off from their supplies and support until they are a) dead b) devoid of the will to fight, or c) devoid of the ability to fight. And it's working.
After Zarqawi, They're Losing
Zarqawi document found on a thumb drive in his pocket.
Read the first few paragraphs -- then notice Zarqawi's "strategy for success" -- which incidentally, does not include a plan for withdrawing from Iraq -- along with several reasons why our "strategy for success" should not include "redeployment" until the mission is accomplished (success).
The democrats pander to people who have a world view that we caused the war on Islamism, and that all we have to do is stop and it will stop (or, the more hard core think that we should just sit and reap our "just punishment" from the Islamists). Of course, in that world view, "success" means to stop fighting.
Stopping fighting is excactly the behavior that brought this war on in the first place. Bin Laden et. al. believe they brought the Soviet Union down. After declaring that the "more dangerous of the superpowers" had been defeated, that America would be a piece of cake because we lack the stomach for a fight. Somalia and other incidents like it "proved" that. I think they truly had hopes that 9/11 would bring about our surrender to Islam and/or Dihimmitude. Those who don't understand this vote for democrats, and democrats are pandering to these people. This pushes sensible democrats like Joe Lieberman out of what should be the core of that party to the fringe.
War is not a football game. It is a fight to the death There is no game clock. Demanding a game clock means demanding we tell the enemy when we'll stop fighting so that they can bide their time until then to move in for the kill.
More (better) at Captain's Quarters
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